Now we're getting somewhere

To ring in the New Year I decided to go for my long run for the week today. I finally got down to the Grand Union Canal to do a bit of a simulation in preparation for Tring to Town. The weather was perfect today (grey, cold, but dry). Doing a run after a late NYE was a challenge to begin with. Doing 50 km is another thing. So at about 11 am I drove over to Watford and got running. I went south towards Heathrow. I was aiming for two 12 km out and back runs, but I decided to go for it and run out 25 km to my turn around point. Erm.... a slight mistake that! Once I got to about 32 km I started to fall to pieces! You see almost all my long runs have been on the road with no issues. On the canal the surface is somewhat uneven and it really kills the legs after a while. Compound that after a few hours and ouch! Anyway, the last 18 km was a bit tortuous to say the least! Once I hit 42 km I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then some of my fave tunes started playing on my iPod. A bit of Rammstein.... some Sonic Youth.....Linkin Park. This really helped. The final 5 km just went by like a dream! Nice. Job done! I have hit 50 km and my first ultradistance in 4:56! I'll check in later with some observations and tips on how I could've done this with less pain and a bit more speed.