Another morning run. I was indifferent about running this morning. We decided to go the other way along the canal today. My leg is much the same – a bit sore but not getting worse. So off we went slowly down the hill. I found this one harder than the last two. It wasn’t comfortable at any point. I didn’t enjoy it, it was one of those that just needed doing and I don’t remember there being anything to see which must be nonesense, there’s always something to see along the canal. I just wanted to get to the end, get home and have a shower. It’s not that I was miserable or that it ever occured to me to not finish or anything, it just wasn’t fun. I think it was about 3.7 miles in 45 minutes.

Anyway, I want to write about tomorrow. Tomorrow we are having another go at the 11 mile run that caused my meltdown last weekend. I am, to say the least, a little apprehensive. I don’t really know what went wrong which means I don’t feel like I can stop it from happening again (over-thinking much?!?). I do sort of feel quietly confident though. Preparation for tomorrow is good. I have been drinking water all day and am pretty hydrated, I have eaten the right sort of stuff with fajitas at lunch and a bowl of pasta this evening and I haven’t really done anything this afternoon – just resting, watching crap on tv, chatting and enjoying being at home.

So, physically I know I can do 11 miles and I do think mentally I am learning to be a bit tougher. I have the sayings up all around the house so I see them all the time and they are lodging in my brain. I have tried my little mantra and it got me through the tough patches today. It’s ready for the next test. I also tried counting backwards from 100 and discovered that I am not very good at it. I particularly struggle in the 60s so my aim is to do a backwards countdown without making a mistake – that should keep my mind off running for quite a while!

The route should be stunning – all along the Wharfe so I could also count ducks. I will certainly be looking out for herons and wildlife generally and it would be really fab to see something unusual or something I don’t see on our usual runs round here. I also have another little trick to try and keep me going. It’s silly, totally silly but it should help for this run as well as for some future ones. The plan formed after the aborted last attempt. I went to the shop at Bolton Abbey and bought two postcards, one with a picture of the Abbey ruins and another with pictures fron Burnsall. We will turn round at Burnsall and I have written the postcard showing Burnsall. I am going to post it in the village as we go through. It says: ‘You know you can do this because you are doing it’ and is addressed to me from me. The second card I will write once we are back at the Cavendish Pavillion at the Bolton Abbey estate enjoying a bacon sarnie- again from me to me. What I write will depend on how I feel then but the idea is to have something other than the voices in my head. I will actually have postcards from me to me telling me that I can do this. So obviously I have finally lost the plot!