Unknown territory

I went into unknown territory today, in every sense.
I was not sure I would complete the 16km I had scheduled, I didn't want to push myself too far and I knew that also 14km would have been good, since next long run is again 16km. I had planned on doing a 12km route and then just add one or two 2km laps in my neighbourhood, but around the 8km mark I knew it was going to be all right so I went for an unplanned detour in the woods.

I ran on unknown trails, discovered a place where they apparently train dogs, and went by a few of these  piles of recently cut timber. They were quite high and I can see why somebody found it necessary to explicitly forbid climbing...
At 10km I had my first ever energy gel (Power Bar Gel - lemon/lime), and was surprised by how salty and sticky it was. Eeeeewww! Why did I buy three of those?
It's weird, as I think back now I can only remember very few things of today's run, I was so focused on listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that I didn't even realize I was running. I was fully aware though of the fact that this was going to be my longest run so far without regular walk breaks.
At some point around the 12km mark I was feeling tired and I was starting to talk myself into accepting that 14km was also good, when I realized I had started to hunch forward. I straightened up, tightened my newly found abdominal muscles and focused on keeping a straight posture and what do you know... 500m and it was like the tiredness had been wiped away from my body. All those core strengthening exercises are paying off!
I continued for the last km in my neighbourhood and ran into my family at the little park close to home, and even had my daughter run next to me for a few meters, which was sweet :-)
Another 500m or so of walking after having stopped the Garmin at 16.01km and then I was home, pleasantly surprised at how easy it had been and how good I was feeling, but nonetheless aware that there was still time for problems to arise. Ten hours have passed since then, and I am only feeling (rightfully, I would add) tired, knees a bit sore but it's not a worrisome tiredness, just the kind you feel when you've been on your feet for a long time (U2 GA, anyone?).

Let's see now when I will stop worrying about injuries and start enjoying the running again!