Long Airport Run

The alarm goes off at 5:15am and I am so tempted to roll over and go back to sleep.  I have prepared my kit the night before, and I know the Beachy Head Marathon is coming up.  I have done plenty of running but none of it over an hour.

I head of into the dark.  I summon up the courage to run across the common in the dark, all alone.   After a while I settle into a good pace.  Just before the sun comes up the light starts playing up.  It is switching itself off.  The battery seems to be charged, I wonder if it is overheating (it is strapped to my head and  I am hardly travelling at a speed to produce much cooling)

Down just past the Wilberforce Oak, as the sun gets higher in the sky there is a beautiful sun-rise.  I stop and take a photo, but the IPhone camera does not do it any kind of justice.  The lights of houses in the distance twinkling, the oranges and yellows.  Amazing.

I struggle to find the path I am looking for and have to run a couple of times up and down the road.  In the end I dig out the OS map on my phone and find it.

I run across a wide open field and feel great.  I am running for 3 hours and plan to turn around 1.5 hours into the run.  Knowing it has been a big slog up to Biggin HILL, and I wasted some time trying to find the path, I decide to tack on an extra 5 minutes on to the outward journey.  After 3 minutes, I come to a steep downhill.  Knowing I will have to run backup it, I decide to head back there and then.

After 2 hours I start to struggle.  I have deliberately not brought any food or drink to help my body to learn-to-burn.  I knuckle down, the pace slips but I keep going.

Back home I have a coffee and bacon sarnie made with homemade bread.  That and the sun-rise made it all worthwhile.

2"49:15 24km (Today was all about time on the feet though)