Runstreak Day #344 - atrocious runs and running stars

With 3 weeks left until the year is done, I managed my worst run of the year today.  It was shockingly bad.  I was meant to be doing my normal long run with Sweatshop... and was using it to see if I was up to running a half next weekend.  I figured that if I could manage 10 miles this Sunday, then I could cope with a half next weekend.

My body thought different.

I started off okay - at a slow, relaxed pace, running with a few others... but by the time I was 3 miles in, I began feeling faint.  Light-headed and everything going a bit black and wobbly around the edges.  I stopped, and then walked for a while, one of the people I was with stayed with me... then I started again... by 4 miles, it happened again.  I told the person I was with to carry on running and she carried on to catch up with another couple of people we'd been with.  I felt terrible.  A mixture of 'not very well' and massively frustrated.  The tears started to come.  I tried to carry on running... ended up walking again... and stopped... again.

So, there I am, on the edge of the path, head down trying to stop feeling faint and hoping that people will just run past and leave me alone to wallow in the misery of not being able to run.  But one of them didn't.  He stopped and asked if I was alright and I said I felt faint.  Unlike the others who had gone past, he stayed with me.  And he didn't just stay with me at that point, but he ran with me the rest of the way - another 6 miles of me running, feeling faint, having to stop, then walking and back to a run... over and over.  He was absolutely brilliant.  I felt guilty for ruining his run, but so grateful that he stayed with me when I was feeling so horrible.  I apologised so many times for making him stop, but he was a complete star about it.

Just when you feel at a complete low.  Just when you're wondering how you can carry on.  When you feel a bit swallowed up and hopeless.  Someone can show you how fantastic people can be.

And yes, I know everyone's thinking 'you shouldn't have gone for a long run today' - and you're probably right.  But I did, it was rotten... and I'm going to do very slow, short and gentle runs for a while until I feel better.

Geeky stats stuff

Distance:	9.81 mi
Time:	1:42:38
Avg Pace:	10:28 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	115 ft