Did I fail

I got up this morning intending to run. It's been so long since I have gone on a long run I decided after a week on holidays with the kids it would be a perfect chance to clear my head.

I also decided to take up a very kind offer of a ride from Woori Yallock (in the Yarra valley) back to mt.Evelyn. Which makes for a beautiful 15k run along the Warburton trail, which is an old disused train line running from Lilydale to Warburton.

This one of my favorite places to run. Gravel path, lots of bush and some open spaces, and long graded hills.

15k from Mt.Evelyn to Woori and I decided I would tack on an extra 3k out and back to make it a nice half marathon.

I started running at 11:30am and the outside temp according to the suby was 23deg. All was going well, I think subconsciously I had decided today was the day to nail the sub 2 hour 1/2 as I was watching the clock and working hard to stay under 5:30min/k. This all went well for about 5k, at which point the temp rose by about 5deg.

At 6k I was struggling to keep running but I pushed on.

At 7k there is a cafe which was tempting me to stop for a sports drink. 8

At 8k I stopped at a tap and soaked my self and filled my bottle.

From 8-10k I ran in the sun and walked in the shade, I could feel myself roasting, and my HR was going nuts, I decided that today was not a PB run, then I decided it wasn't going to be a 1/2 either, I would run the 15k.

As I reached the 10k mark I was running between shady bits and long sunny bits. At this stage I decided that it was silly to go on this way, it was simply too hot (for me) to be running. So I called my ride and he picked me up from the 10.38k mark.

When I returned the outside temp at the car was 31deg. It had risen 8deg while I was running, and it's really no wonder I was roasting.

Today's run left me asking however, did I fail or was this a smart thing to do given the circumstances.

I think after much contemplation that it wasn't a failure but a tactical retreat :)