This will be hard, he said. He wasn't lying.

This week's run was supposed to happen yesterday, Saturday. But I ended up having to work in the morning, and Ant was working all day too. As he wasn't at home on Sunday, I went to where he was for something he helpful described as a bit of a hard run.

The plan for the run was a 5.5 mile mixed run, with a 60/40 split between cross country and road or paved tracks. Ant had said there were a few hills, a quite tough wooded section, with a hill, and then more ploughed fields, some of which were on hills. So all the fun things I like the most about running! But on the plus side, there are some roads and tracks. Oh, and it was raining.

So off we set, Ant's two dogs running alongside but not getting in the way too much. All started well until we had to run across two fields full of cabbage. That in itself isn't a problem, but the water on them was freezing and making my feet cold! Not much to complain about at the start of a run I know, but at the time it was a bit annoying!

The next hurdle was the wooded section that we hit at roughly 2 miles in. Ant had warned me that even he might have to slow in this section as it's tough going. In the dry I imagine it's not too bad, but with the recent weather it was ankle deep in mud for 0.4 of a mile. OK, that's not that far in itself, but having to concentrate on your footing so much whilst dodging brambles is not easy. And then it goes uphill whilst still that deep in mud. That was hard work and I had to walk for a bit up the hill. The mud was just too hard work!

So once we had recovered from the muddy hill, it was a nice relaxing mile and a quarter of road. There's a sentence I never thought I'd type! A mile and a bit of "relaxing" road running. 8 weeks ago that seemed impossible, but I suppose that alone shows how far I have come so far.

Unfortunately, the end of the mile had a long hill which I got cocky about and attacked a bit harder than was wise. I then ran out of puff half way up. Ant was on hand at the top to make me look amazing once again, but at least the scenery is nice.

From here it was 2 miles to the end, with a few more of my favourite ploughed fields. Somehow I was still going, but with the occasional slow to a walk. I haven't got the hang of running on sticky ploughed fields, but I am getting better at it. On most other surfaces I am getting the hang of recovering at a jog, but muddy fields are beyond me for now. Ant insisted I smile for the camera. I am less happy than I appear.

We were now over 4.5 miles in, and I was beginning to tire. The mud was making it slow going and my feet were starting to feel heavy. But the muddy fields were replaced with grassy tracks and I was able to claw a little energy back. Just enough to be able to manage a sprint finish for the last 100 yards or so, but at that point my legs were starting to get a little shakey so it was just as well we were done!

Due to Ant's running app, the below graph shows the elevation changes across the run, with basically the entire thing being up or down hill! Even doing the run, it felt like there were a few flat bits, but it appears not. It also shows how much I was slowing at the end, with the stride rate dropping off. The lowest point on the stride rate shows the top of the wooded hill section.

So1 hour, 11 minutes and 13 seconds after we set off we arrived back at the start, having run 5.59 miles. We were done, and I had completed my toughest, as well as my longest run so far. Once I had recovered, I was starting to feel all right. Maybe even seeing a hint of the post-run glow that I had last week, but a touch stronger. And then Ant suggested we should walk the other two dogs, so having squeezed my feet into a pair of undersized wellies, off we went. Only to get a blister on my heel. I have managed to run without a single injury so far, but I pick one up walking the damn dogs!