Week 4, Day 4: Curry is not a runners fuel

We went to a friend's house last night and had a curry and a little wine. One of these things resulted in my being REALLY thirsty this morning, and I drank my whole bottle of water in the first 3-4 miles. And then couldn't find either a water fountain or an off-license/grocery store for another 2 miles. My splits from that time are not pretty. As a whole, though, considering this is the furthest I can ever remember running, it felt pretty good. Some walking, but vast majority running (though I'd call it more like shuffling near the end) and I finished strong. After 3 days in a row, I'm ready to take a day off and let my blisters heal a bit. 8 miles, 1:44:58.

Weekly total: 19.3 miles, 3:56:33
Cumulative Blackpool marathon training total: 85.7 miles, 18:04:26

Week 2, Day 3: Sunday December 9: Someone please take Hackney off the map!

I did it again. Went out for a nice, well mapped 6 mile run. One of the directions says "cross the river and head south." I must have turned north (no sun visible to tell me which way to go), because that was the last of the landmarks I saw. Instead I ended up running most of the way back to my house, but because I don't have my Christmas present yet, I didn't know it. Meanwhile, part way through the run I got, as they say here, "caught short" and had to go find a bush. Stupidly, I chose a bush that had prickly burrs in it. My legs were a bit numb (it's cold and rainy!) and I didn't feel them until I was on the wrong bus trying to go home (see again about north and south and the sun). An hour and a half later, cold, stinky, and hungry, I find myself riding the bus through Hackney. If you've been playing along at home, you'll know I've already been lost in Hackney once. At least this time I had bus fare. Roughly 6 miles, roughly 1 hour 15.

Week so far: 16 miles, 3:23:40
Cumulative: 31 miles, 6:47:30

Week 1

Week 1 of the non-runner's marathon training is complete. I didn't write a diary, or much in my comments of the book, but here's the stats:
Tuesday, 27 November: 3 miles scheduled. 3 miles run (highbury fields to clissold park route) with no music on a foggy morning. 38:53
Thursday, 29 November: 4 miles scheduled. Got totally lost after making a wrong turn out of finsbury park. Ran for about 4.5 miles (55:10 or so), walked another 4-5 in trying to find my way home. This "run" ended up being about 2.5 hours total. By the time I got home, I was nearly paniced, and so was Meg. Not a good day.
Friday, 30 November: 3 miles scheduled. 3 miles run (highbury fields to clissold park route) with Lindsay on a slightly rainy afternoon. After yesterday's ridiculous "run" I was understandably a bit sore. Still, I improved my pace (I think running with Lindsay helped): 37:16.
Sunday, 2 December: 5 miles scheduled. This was awful! Very windy afternoon. I'm so glad Lindsay was with me, because I had the most intense shin pain, and an incredible inability to pick up my feet for a good part of it. 5 miles run/walked about 50/50 (highbury fields to finsbury park route). 1:12:29.

Total for the week: 15.5 miles, 3:23:34
Training total: 15.5 miles, 3:23:34