Long Run With Bells On

More kiddies stuff during the day. A trip to Dublin Zoo and after being on the feet all day it was going to be another tough evening run...

The plan called for up to 45 minutes at half marathon pace (depending on fitness level). As part of a long run of around 1 hour 45 minutes. I was going to make this as easy as possible so I used the same route as I ran the previous day doing my tempo run heading out towards Howth - with the benefit of a good tail wind.

I did about 20 minutes warm-up, and was to start the effort at a tower marked "East Point" - which I think was near a train station. I started quickly and didn't feel too bad but I gradually started to slow a little as I ran down the prom. I was offered a sexual favour by a girl down on the prom as I ran past - all I could do was smile and laugh as I ticked by at 3:20/km pace. She started to chase after me - she must have thought I wasn't that way inclined. That's what I like about Dublin - the locals seem to be very accommodating!!!

Moving on, at about 30 minutes the cycle path came to an end and I was on a normal path. I considered stopping but decided to soldier on to 11kms. The last km was the toughest - slight uphill plus a junction to deal with. I ended up running 11kms on the knocker in 36:51 (3:21/km pace). That sounds impressive but there was quite a strong wind driving me along the whole way which was worth a good bit...

Then the run back. A slow slog home into the wind. I couldn't wait to get it over with. I ended up with a total running time of 1:49:03 covering 27kms (at an average pace of 4:02/km).

That's 100.6km for the week. Absolutely shot to bits...