#FitnessFriday Don't panic its less than a month until the Brathay Half Marathon!

Before I write about this week I realised that I had blogged that I was going to run the Langdale 10k but I never said how I did! I somehow managed probably my quickest 5 k of the year on the outward leg and then hadn't left enough in the tank for the return (though somehow it was my 3rd fastest time back up Chapel Stile). The lack of training showed and the warm weather didn't help but I finished with a smile and not in last place:

The following day we did the Kendal Colour Dash as a family and had a whale of time. My run wasn't anything special as I was taking pictures and still recovering from the day before:

So now we are back on this week proper and I feel like I have finally got some decent running in! On Tuesday I repeated my short route from the week before and it was 3 minutes quicker than the previous one:

That run clinched me my latest bling from Virtual Runner:

Today was my one and only day for a proper long run. Plan A was to do laps of Tarn Hows (3 miles per lap) but there wasn't enough time to get there do it and get back. So with a Plan B I headed off out of Kendal and along the old Lancaster Canal path. I set an interval timer to 60/30 seconds so that I would run/walk for my session:

The ground was surprisingly dry under foot after a few days of rain. I hadn't been out here since before the flooding so it was good to see how well the ground had coped:

The one downside of the route is having to climb over stiles and go through gates. However it has so many benefits. For most of the time I was on this section my only company were the local sheep and lambs (which were way faster than me…):

It was good to see that the suspension bridge at Sedgwick was back open albeit with some repairs to the structure:

I then had to dodge a caravan before the toughest part of the route the climb up Nanny Pie Lane. It was a relief to get to Low Sizergh Farm and be told to slow down:

I then reached the Kendal bypass with a solid pavement to run on all the way back to Kendal. It was a lovely smooth run and not too challenging but way too noisy and the head wind was horrendous:

When I got in to town I realised that by going cross country to Sedgwick instead of sticking to the road I had cut my run short. So I had to keep on going and headed further into town along the river:

I was hoping that my running around Gooseholme and then back along the canal path I would achieve the length of run I needed (14 km or more). I have to say that the canal path through town has probably never felt so long than after a run of over 10 km:

As I neared home I had only run 12 km and wanted to do more. In desperation I tried to find another 3 kms (at this point I thought I could get that far). So a few deviations later I tried to run back up over our nearest canal bridge and my legs just said "enough" and I had to stop at just over 14 km which is my longest non stop run ever! Can you see how pleased I was with myself:

So now I just have to find another 4 1/4 miles in my legs to run a half marathon! Will find out tomorrow whether I can manage parkrun with exhausted body..