Breaking the Jinx, Battling the Monkeys

Finally the string of jinxed weekend long runs is broken!! I did 30k yesterday at ECR No. 8 with Chennai Runners, in 3:40. Weather was not all that fantastic, no rain but it was humid and hot as the sun came up. The runs leading up to the Sunday run were like this:
Tuesday: 8.5k
Wednesday: 5.6k
Thursday: 15.6k
But from Friday afternoon I started getting shin pain in my right leg and it persisted. I got onto a pain killer and anti-inflamatory from Fri night, skipped Friday evening run and continued taking the pill till Sat night. The shin pain was still there but only a niggle by Sunday morning.

The run started OK, my system was warming up fine. Then it started... the monkeys were out in full flow. Do I really need to run Singapore? Do I really need to run this 35k now? Why not just quit Singapore, get into a 5 runs/week with gym work and save valuable time for work related stuff?? And on and on and on. Crossed 5k. No sign of the shin pain. Crossed 7.5k still OK. Crossed 10k, the monkeys were still there. I told myself I had to go all the way to the 17.5k turn around point then decide what to do. By the time I crossed 15k and turned around at 17.5, I started feeling that I had caught some second wind. Then running against the head wind, my mind played games again and I had to force myself to think - half marathon first, 25k next, 30k next and then I would not care as I would have touched the psychological number of 30k. That's what I ended up doing.

Was pretty busted by 30k, started to take more walking breaks. In fact, after the half marathon point (2:23) I was mostly doing run/walks. Lost interest after 28k or so. It would have taken me the best part of an hour to finish the last 5k, so gave up and went to the finishing line by car!

A big plus from the run is that I have settled in well with the Asics Nimbus X. No blisters!! After a very long time I have had a long run with no blisters on my feet.

As I key this in, my thoughts are mixed. I may pull off Singapore after all. Everything depends on my training over the next 2 weeks. I am going to be 40, in about an hour and a half!!!!! Wow. I don't feel that I am 40. More like 25. Plenty of reflecting to do and plenty of stock taking to be done. For now I am happy that I am staying fit and in an elite crowd that can run the way I do at this age!

Cheers!!