This morning I ran my final long run, a 20 miler, before three weeks of taper.
I had planned to run down the Grand Union Canal to Paddington, then along to Regent's Park before heading down to Oxford Street and back to Ealing. As I set off I decided to go "off piste" and make up a route as I went along. I just fancied running a circular route with my house as the centre point. So I ran down to Acton, up the A40, through Alperton to Harrow and Sudbury, then Northolt where I got a little bit lost, found my way to the Uxbridge Road and back to Ealing. My third 20 miler of the training schedule and also the most comfortable. This plan must be working! Although I did end up with a bleeding nipple. Never a nice thing, especially on a white running vest. I could see the wincing faces of passers-by in the street thinking how painful it must be. The truth is that I didn't realise it was bleeding at all until I looked down my vest with three miles to go. I'd even put vaseline on before setting off but maybe I need to look into using surgical tape in future.
Now I have three weeks of taper with no midweek runs over single-digit mileage. That will either make a nice change or will drive me mad. In my experience it's been a little bit of both.
Over the next three weeks I need to decide which pair of running shoes I will run the race in. I've eliminated one pair due to their risk of causing blisters. This leaves my everyday running shoes or my specialist racers. I'd like to race in the specialist racers but I don't know if they'll last the long distance (or rather if my feet will). I'll use them more in the coming weeks so I can make a value judgement.
In the meantime here's my run from this morning:
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