Acceptance Pack

Two more training runs. Yesterday was supposed to be my 6 mile Marathon Pace but I decided to have a change and ran a negative split session on the treadmill based roughly around my marathon pace this went well I need to practice this a bit more to get used to a slow start and building up. One of my running partners was on the treadmill next to me and we exchanged the normal chat you do on a run. This was quite good as it broke up the monotony.
This mornings run was a journey into the unknown for me as will most of the Saturday training runs from now on. I broke the 2 hr barrier for a run and covered 13 miles, The last time I ran 13 miles was a Half Marathon I did about 4 or 5 years ago. I can never remember running for 2 hrs before.
The run was going OK until I realised I had made a bit of route planning error, I was going to climb a hill and had mentally prepared for this being the last hill. Then I looked at my watch and realised I had another 20 minutes to run. I had to put more miles in and this involved another climb. None of these climbs are that difficult, but it was the disappointment of being faced with it that was annoying thing. It was a hard slog the last mile and a bit but I got through it.
Fortunately I had a "pick-me-up" waiting for me when I got home. The acceptance pack for the Marathon and with it my number. I am runner number 9075. I know I have a letter saying I'm in and that my cheque was cashed but the arrival of this number makes the Marathon seem that much closer. The big day itself is 20 weeks tomorrow.