Day 5/6 First Long Run

The dreaded long run is done. It was 8 miles (12.9K) in a strong wind for about an hour and twenty minutes. 
This may sound odd to some of you, but I had actually forgotten that the long runs have become one of my favourite parts of training. I was anxious because I have not been on anything longer than 5K since December and there was a slight fear that I wouldn't like it or be able to do it anymore.  But no, I just had to settle into it. The long runs are different, you have to give over your time and be in it. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone, but it's not like the shorter runs which you fit in between other aspects of your life. For the long run, you kick off and you  realise this is it for the next hour or more.  You have to keep slow and steady, you can't charge through it to get the next event of the day because if you go too fast, you won't finish. 
Yesterday's run was complicated by a fairly gusty wind. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I knew I had made a mistake because the wind was going to be at my back for the outward leg of my journey making the return, when I am tired, more arduous.  I should have found parking at the other side of my circuit.  By the last mile I was reminded of cycling home from school long 'go. We lived on the Western side of town on a straight stretch of road, which was beautiful in October because of the gorgeous Autumn sunsets and the changing colour of the trees, but windy days were a different matter. Southwesterlies are the prevailing winds in that part of the world and, at the end of the day, bags on the back of the bike, the last thing you wanted was to cycle against the wind. It brings on the grumble. At a recent yoga conference, the teacher would advise us to get out of the 'grumble zone' and I knew exactly what she meant, although I associate it more with running than yoga, those days when you really are going against yourself, not digging deep enough to overcome the resistance, know that the power is in you, but you just couldn't be bothered going in after it.  On the grumble days, you just go through the motions, but with bad grace and all you can say is 'Well, I got through it'.  I have not yet hit the grumble zone in this training programme, but it is only week one. It will come.  I enjoyed yesterday's run, managing to get lost in a housing estate, spotting a shop that keeps running food (high energy gels and so on) that I will revisit and a ruined castle that I had not known was there.  I did not see anything as picturesque as horses in the Park, Rhetorician! Reminded by Rhetorician's post on Thursday, I took out my heart monitor and used it to slow myself down because this is about endurance (on both sides of the Atlantic, perhaps), not speed.
So many thoughts as I was running, but I was thinking of you Etty because I know that you are not feeling so good this week. At times like that, I wish I was nearer, even only to sit down awhile over a cup of tea. I'm old enough to know you can't take burdens from people, but sometimes you can just pause awhile and share.  Maybe, that's what this particular project is all about ...