Battling with the "chimp"

I've been writing my blog for four years and part of the motivation is so I can look back and remember parts of the journey, especially when I'm struggling.  Today was a really tough session and I was battling the "chimp" in my brain which was telling me to quit. It was constantly shouting you're not fit enough, you're too old, go play golf as it's less effort etc etc.  You'll be familiar with the inner chimp whether you are training for an event or trying to improve yourself.
The "scene of the crime" was Chatelherault Country Park where I run on a regular basis. A five mile loop has 425 feet of climbing and it's tough. But fortunately it is sheltered as the wind was up and it was mixed with rain and sleet.  A friend of mine who is a good ultra runner accompanied me on the first two laps. On the second lap I asked for a breather for a minute as I wasn't feeling great. By the end of the second lap I new it was going to be a tough 3rd lap as I was doing it on my own and the weather was getting worse.
The chimp went into overtime and suddenly I was walking every hill which is a first for me. I tried to make use of that time by eating an energy bar and rehydrating but it seemed to make no difference. My body temperature dropped as I wasn't running on the hills and had I been in the wilderness I'd have been in trouble.  Trying to take a positive out of the situation I remembered some of my longest runs where you reach a very dark place at various stages.  So this was my opportunity to practice getting through it. By the time I got home I was a shivering wreck so straight into a hot bath, compression tights on and food in. Now to rest because tomorrow I'll be doing the same again but hope for better performance. The chimp may have reduced me to walking today but I made the most out of the situation. I'm looking forward to looking back at this post as I believe this was an important session where I might not have performed as well as I wanted to, but I achieved what I set out to do.