Today I ran 9.5 km in an hour. Slow, but absolutely sure. I battled heartburn and stomach issues from the start (thanks to the 4 coffees I drank today and bean soup I ate for lunch) but my legs felt strong and there was no way I was not going to complete this run. I was forced to walk a few times and run really slowly at other times, but I made it and felt like I could have gone on. And this was the route through Froloo that almost killed me on the bike in February - now I'm running it.
This means I can run in the Birslauf 10km race next Saturday (sorry the website's all German) and I am absolutely stoked. The Birs is a river that runs through the west of Basel and joins the Rhine near the centre of the city, and the race starts at the St Jacob's football stadium, up one side of the river and back down the other.
The last time I ran 10 km was in May 1999, almost exactly 10 years ago, in the Oxford Town and Gown with my friend Emma. That was also the year I got married, read into that whatever you like. This is the first time since then that I've been fit enough to even think about running 10 km. I can't tell you how excited I am. I'll be a bit more careful with my pre-run diet than today though.
I've just been checking out the website, and discovered that the race is actually FREE. As in, it doesn't cost anything!! I've never actually encountered a free race before. Even better!
