I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink....

The moment I woke up this morning, I knew I hadn't had enough sleep.  It wasn't as though I went to bed unusually late -- about half-twelve -- and I haven't had a drink since a glass of wine on Monday night.  I just felt tired.  I dragged myself out of bed and hauled my sorry arse into the office a little before 9am after running a couple of errands.

It was a bit of a pissy, blustery day and for the first time in several weeks, I felt fatigued.  Not fatigued as in tired, but as in fatigued.  Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of MS but also one of the hardest to explain.  I've been taking a lot of exercise recently, of course, but I'd describe the feeling of tiredness that you get from that as an honest tiredness; it's a tiredness that you've earned.  MS-related fatigue is weasel tiredness; it sneaks up on you and takes hold of you and fills you with lethargy and makes even the simple task of standing up and walking down the office feel like a trek in the Himalayas.  I don't get it too badly -- some people find that they can't even get out of bed -- but I know the warning signs and I took an amantadine pep pill and a couple of ibuprofen and tried to shake it off.

My training schedule for the week had me down for a 9-10 mile run today, and it's as if my body knew.  It just knew that there was a 10 mile run lying in wait at the end of the day.  Right from the moment I woke up, it's been doing everything it can to try and convince me that running for 90-odd minutes would be a really, really bad idea. 

I had a busy day, but as it began to wound down and my colleagues began to go home, I was finding reasons to stay in the office.  My brain was telling me that I'd spent all day away from my desk and had a few tasks that I needed to get done.  I wasn't fooled: I know that the only reason I was hanging around was to put off the evil moment as long as possible.  My colleague - another runner - rumbled me and sent me packing.... but not before we found time for a quick discussion about how you can walk across a swimming pool filled with custard (it's a non-Newtonian fluid thing - naturally, when she didn't believe me, I had to waste a few more minutes showing her a video of it).

When I did get home, I managed to waste some more time feeding the neighbour's cats, but then the evil moment was upon me.

I won't say that I enjoyed it particularly, nor was it easy going.... but it's been done.  10.18 miles, 1 hour 33 minutes and 10 seconds.  An average pace of 9:09 minutes per mile.

Done now, anyway.  Exactly a month to go before the Robin Hood half marathon.  We're running to raise money for the MS Society, and you can sponsor us here.  All donations gratefully accepted and the money will go to fund very worthwhile things like this.

4 mile run and a swimming lesson tomorrow.  I must be mad.