This morning I set out running and decided I would really push myself and knock out a few miles at a decent pace. I’ve been running 10milers relatively easily so I though I would squeeze a few more miles out, shouldn’t be too difficult. How wrong was i!

I was running at a good pace and I felt pretty good between  10-13 miles. However anything over that was the unknown, I had never done more than 13 miles in the last 6 months and I knew this route was going to be around 17-20m. I started to really tire towards the end, so much that I had stopped the Strava tracking on my arm to log a good time on the miles I had already completed.

My pace slowed dramatically as I continued the final few miles home. And as I entered my hometown(Macclesfield) and was really struggling, with around 1.5m left I couldn’t wait to get home and sit down.

BAM!

I can’t remember exactly what happened but I stopped running and started walking, I then stopped walking and sat down. My mind and breathing felt normal. I didn’t feel massively tired but my legs were just absolutely gone!
I remember thinking to take my legs off the floor whilst I’m sat down as the weight of them was just unbelievable, it was like they were made of lead.

I remember seeing “Run fatboy run” a while back and there is a section of the film where he . I knew it existed but the dramatic nature of the scene is actually quite realistic! I honestly could not move, my legs were well and truly gone! It was one of the most surreal experiences and I actually started to think how the hell I would get home!

I walk this route a fair bit on the way to the gym and it’s approximately 10-15 mins from my house. It took me almost 1h 20mins to get home! ha. I was literally walking around 200meters and having to sit/lie down. I was absolutely soaked to the skin from the rain and I’m lying down in people gardens. Passers-by must have thought I was barking mad!

Admittedly I was incredibly foolish and I know what caused this. I left the house having only eaten a few breakfast biscuit things and I took nothing with me to help keep my energy levels up throughout this grueling run. I had ran at such a pace over such a distance that my energy levels were completely depleted.

I thought about strapping a wheelchair in the same position just in case but I don’t think I will ever forget to take any fuel with me next time I’m running a few miles.

Take a look at athlete “hitting the wall” in dramatic fashion. It really is a bizarre situation both for the individual and the spectators, but I promise you she’s not exaggerating.

Thanks for reading.

• Personal
• Running