A knock at my door at 5.40a.m. tells me it's time for my 38km long run. Lots of rain throughout the night means I'm going to have heavy shoes as the mud gets very sticky out here. It's only me doing the long run today and still at 6a.m. I have a pacemaker and a support car supplying water and 5km split times, sometimes it's not bad being a full time athlete.
I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday so was actually unsure I would make the full distance but as always I would give it my best shot. When we start it is still very dark and the only reason I don't twist my ankle in the first 10km is that my way is lit by the headlights of Kens car that is following close behind. I try and break the distance down into manageable chunks and it's not long until I have broken the half way mark and reached 20km, and to my surprise I still feel ok. After 26km we turn to the left and I realise that I know the rest of the route back and it is very hilly. I keep pushing on and after what feels like an eternity I hit 35km where Langat my pacemaker calls it a day, the hills have taken there toll on him it seems. Just two long hills left and I manage to pick up the pace and push on home in the final 3km. At the finish my legs still seem in one piece and the only damage I can see is a bit of “runners nipple”, so all in all a good days work.
Time for some well earned breakfast now and then some sleep. Very early start tomorrow for our trip to Nairobi for the Kenyan National Cross Country Championships.
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