Due to lots and lots of work and tiredness, didn't get a chance to do much running for about a week and a half. With the Marathon a few weeks away now, decided I need a proper training run and what better than to do the Epsom 16 mile again!! in case I didn't make it clear, that first Epsom run (~16.5miles) was the toughest run I've ever done, perhaps the toughest exercise I've ever done, think I hit the proverbial wall due to all the hills esp Hillcross Avenue at the end. I remember there was pretty much nothing left in the tank as I staggered across Kingston Road from Mostyn on to Dundonald Park to stretch down. ANYWAYS, this time was slightly different!! I paced the run a lot better, I found myself at Epsom in about 1:10hrs about 5mins quicker than last time. I bought a Lemon Spring water drink and a Muller rice pudding, ate that and jogged back. The uphill out of town past that X pub was still a bit of a slog, but I got out of there and found Malden Road from Cheam village to be nothing like the never-ending nightmare it had been the first time. Heading back to Morden and then Beverly Roundabout and Hillcross Avenue also wasn't as bad, found myself counting the hills and while being careful it wasn't too bad. Getting to Merton Park I actually sped up and even finished with a sprint down Mostyn Road! there seemed a lot left in the tank, which was very surprising. Wandered down to the tennis club to stretch down. Took about 3:25hrs(or 3:30hrs can't remember) which was also a good 20mins quicker than last time.
Here's the route map: http://tinyurl.com/68jw2pc
Save the Rhino had most excellently organised this run with Mike for us and it was brilliant – about 12 of us turned up inc Adam who'd set it all up, though he refrained from running with us cos he had to 'look after our stuff' hehe. We met in a gym in London Bridge and after Mike showed us how to warm up properly, we did about a 5.5mile circuit from London Bridge up and over Westminster Bridge and back to London Bridge where we started. A bunch of the guys sped off ahead of us at the start and were obviously aiming for a quick run, but a group of 4 of us hanged back so we could chat to Mike, plus we were prob lot slower than the guys ahead, am not going for 2:09hrs this yr, perhaps next 
. There were a couple of other girls too, but they went the wrong way down an alley half way and somehow ended up a bit behind us. Mike gave us some running tips and told us stuff about his training back in day – lots of repeated 400m's sprints etc!! It was a very nice run, taking in Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, the Wheel, glimpse of St.Pauls etc running over the Thames was cool too, pollution didn't seem too bad either. We finished with a drink and a superb pasta meal in the bar next to the gym. Mike gave us some very useful and interesting running tips. It was good to meet some other Save the Rhino guys too, really nice bunch, cheers Tristan and the girls for running with me 