Longest run ever, and Garmin mayhem

So, this week's schedule called for a 16 miler, which I approached rather trepidatiously (I don't think that's actually a word), as last week's 14 miles went all to pot in the last 3. My action plan was to reduce my slow pace to an even slower pace, aiming for 11 minute miles, in the hope that this would enable me to complete the distance without walking, or at least with as little walking as possible.

However my cunning plan immediately ran into difficulties as my Garmin 405 went doolally in the first couple of miles, registering 3 miles when I knew for a fact I'd done less than 2, including a completely imaginary second mile in 01:29 (impressive, I think you'll agree). Link here for anyone who fancies a laugh Link (roll over me to see where I go) - I really wasn't galloping all over the place at the beginning as indicated on the map, and it wasn't 17.5 miles either, it was 16, and it wasn't a 9:53 average pace, it was more like 10:49. Things settled down after that but I spent the entire rest of the time trying to figure out how far I'd actually run compared to how far Mr Garmin thought I'd run. This was actually good as it distracted me from the actual running.

On the plus side, the run itself went pretty well :) although I did feel like I was about to die in the last mile, but I thought it was pretty good going to have avoided feeling impending death until then. Continuing my policy of experimenting with various drugs, I mean "fuelling options", today's stimulant of choice was Shot Bloks and I decided to take one with some water every 20 minutes. This felt ridiculously frequent but actually seemed to work, as I managed to keep running for nearly 3 hours without stopping :) Well, I did have to stop for the odd traffic light, which was not unwelcome. But otherwise, kept on going, in stark contrast to last week when I was reduced to run-walking the last 3 miles of the 14.

Am also pleased to report that my Camelbak Delaney waist pack/water carrier thingy whatnot had a successful first outing, I found it very easy to use and hardly noticed it was there (except that the long end of the belt thing - the bit you pull to tighten it - kept coming loose, making me look as if I had a tail. This was probably my fault for not securing it properly though.).

All in all, reasonably pleased with today's effort, but not very pleased with Mr Garmin and his shenanigans in the first couple of miles.