Long Run, 3 hours, 20miles

A 3 hour run wasn't the plan this morning but I decided to throw in a loop which was a bit longer than I thought and so the miles added up.
It was pretty windy out there this morning. There's still loads of giant puddles everywhere and off-road is just a mud fest.
I was hoping to run with David this morning but a text at 6.20 giving his apologies meant it was the iPod, Bono, the late Stuart Adamson, Runrig and a few others who kept me company.
It was pitch dark and blowing a gale so I decided to do a 10k loop and come back home to drop off my head torch and pick up a drink.
The Herts10k was a bit wet underfoot and Richard's sink hole was back. The mother of all puddles was ready to swallow me up but I managed just to get one foot wet.
I got back to the house after an hour. Had a drink, dropped the head torch and hat, and then headed off for Luton via Thrales End Lane. Down on the Lea Valley path I was feeling strong and decided to go to Parkway, then come back via Someries Castle and Peters Green. I hid my water bottle and decided to pick it up on the way back which worked well.
The loop up to Peters Green was a bit longer than I bargained for and I realised I was heading for a 3 hour run. I had a gel and dug in.
The pace was fairly steady and even though there was a fair amount of ups and downs I was feeling strong.
After climbing Cooters End Lane it was down onto the Nickey Line. I expected a quagmire but was surprised to see it is in the process of being tarmaced and it was quite pleasant.
On the final section round Park Avenue I saw another runner ahead and decided to chase him down. When I got there and said hello I was surprised to see it was golfing legend Ken Brown out for his sunday morning jaunt. We didn't mention the rugby.

Overall it was a very positive run. 3 hours and 20 miles with 8 weeks to go is good. I felt strong and could have gone further if I had too.
From a nutrition perspective I had 2 gels, one at 7miles and the other at 12. My drink was an orange juice and water mix.