Run Sweeney Run: Take 1

Remember that VERY scary challenge I told you about? It happened on Saturday. Let me give you a bit of background:

[In the gym, about a month ago. I'm discussing my training plan with PT]

PT: "You know you can run the full distance? Do it a few weeks before the race then you can bring your long run distances down."
Me: "Um... no? No."

[A couple of days later. In between working really hard, I'm on messenger to Gemma]

Me: "So, PT said I should run the full half mara distance a few weeks before the race. Do you want to do a test run with me in February?"
Gemma:



Thankfully she came round to the idea in the end, and we set a date. Then the Timelords decided they hated us and that date whizzed round in the manner of bikini wax day (you know what I mean?).

I took my Nike+ Sportband for a run around the block to re-calibrate it (it was being a little generous with my distances, which is fabulous, but not fair). I don't have a running track near me, so I used RunKeeper to set the correct distance.

GG found a half marathon route which took us around the river from Barnes, across Kew Bridge, through Kew, Chiswick and Hammersmith to Putney, across Putney Bridge, and back to Barnes. That doesn't sound too long, but looky.

It was horrible. Awful. The worst run of my training so far. I'm used to running on the tarmac and pavement of Central London, not the uneven trail of the Thames Path. The track was hell on my calves, and I had to stop when we were only 3km in to stretch them out. I knew then that this wasn't going to be a great run. Thankfully it wasn't all trail, and we did come across some blessed tarmac, but even then, there were a lot of stretching stops and walking breaks.

If this were a film, I'd indicate the passing of time with a wee video montage. It's not, so I'll do it with pictures instead:

Don't worry, I won't talk you through the entire thing. But here's what I took away from it:

1. Boiled egg and soldiers is not a sufficient half marathon breakfast. EAT MORE.
2. Scoffing a handful of gummy bears behind the Chiswick Boat House then trying to run will give you cramp.
3. Tiny kids on bikes will not move out of the way for you.
4. There are no downhill sections on that route. Bad. 
5. I do not fancy boys who row. (Or, y'know, any boys that aren't you, Al)
6. Running with achey arms does not improve the ache.
7. GG makes an awesome bacon sandwich.
8. I CAN RUN A HALF MARATHON WITHOUT DYING.

We finished in 2 hours 37 minutes. Longer than I'd hoped, but we stopped a lot, and hopefully that won't be the case in Paris.

My efforts at re-calibrating my Nike+ Sportband clearly didn't work - it told me I'd only run 18.4km, and GG's RunKeeper had us at over 20km. I really need something with GPS to track my runs, the Sportband just isn't accurate enough for my liking. If anyone has any tips on how to sort it, please let me know!