Sunday Long Run - 22km (Getting it done...)

dannewton just finished a 22.72km run, that lasted for 137 minutes.
This run helped dannewton burn 1670.0 calories.

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Description from Strava: It was a struggle this weekend... but I've finally managed to get the long run done (well, long-ish, as 20km isn't very long these days!)

I usually like to do it first thing on Saturday mornings, to get it out of the way, so I can then get on and enjoy the rest of the weekend. If I don't do early, then it nags away at me, and I can't relax until its completed. As you can imagine though, I can't always run when I want. Sometimes there are more important priorities...

Case in point was Saturday (yesterday) which was my nieces birthday. Technically she turned 2 years of age a couple of days ago, but we finally all got together as a family to celebrate. We went round at lunchtime and had a really pleasant couple of hours as she opened her presents and had a little buffet party lunch thing. It did mean I couldn't do my long run as I didn't have time.

I did try to get up early to do a little run first thing, but I slept in, and barely managed to get to the party in time!

I arrived home about 3pm, and made the most of the recent sunshine to finally mow the lawn for the first time this year. I've been wanting to do this for a couple of weeks, but its just been too wet to consider attempting it

technically it was still on the damp side yesterday, but I managed to finally get it done

And then I finally found a spare hour to do a little run, and I felt better after I managed to get something done. The following day I would do a longer run to make up for it...

Unfortunately, after the beautiful sunshine yesterday, the weather took a turn for the worse today.

As you can see, the rain was forecast all morning. It would apparently improve by the afternoon, but I had already been waiting all weekend to do the long run, and wasn't prepared to wait any longer

It doesn't actually look to bad in this image, taken just before I set off today, but the rain was ever present during most of the run.

It wasn't overly heavy as such, but it was persistent!

And as such I wasn't overly motivated to take many pictures today, as it would have just resulted in my phone getting wet. It also didn't help that I was lacking motivation, most likely due to having to rearrange my schedule.

I like having a plan or routine in place, and having that disrupted will always confuse me lol

This was only the scene of most of the route, cloudy, gloomy and moody skies. The route I chose was the standard out and back route to Navenby, one I've done a million times before. I like it as it is flat, easy to navigate and reasonably interesting. At 22km it is just over the half marathon distance, which was all I really fancied today.

As the weather was miserable, and I was unmotivated, I just put my head done and got on with it. I got to Navenby in just over an hour, and did a short loop around the neighboring village of Wellingore. It was only when I turned to run back home, when I saw the below trees with beautiful pink blossom

How on earth did I miss these first time around?!

They are a feature of one of the farms, and as I poked my phone through the gate, I managed to a better picture:

Beautiful, and another sign that Spring is on the way, despite the relentless rain!

Spirits lifted, I carried on running home, and I'll admit the final 4 miles went by a lot more easier and felt more comfortable.

And so after a topsy-turvy weekend, I finally to get some form of long run done. The 22km was enough to take me just over 69km for the week, which means I manage to hit my weekly target at least!

The 68km weekly target has been picked, as it will hopefully keep me on target for my yearly target of which I'm aiming for 3,500km

I am currently just ahead of this by 47km.... but i know thats a slim margin, and I will need to keep focused. I also know that at some point I will have some easier weeks, so it will be pertinent to build up a buffer i.e. by logging up to 75-80 each week.

A fresh week starts tomorrow, so I guess... here we go again!

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If you would like to check out this activity on strava you can see it here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/10979142210

About the Athlete: Living in the UK, I am an intermittent Runner, but always striving for more consistency. When I'm not training I can be found photographing insects or listening to really loud angry music (which is the best type of music obviously!)

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