I set off today with no great expectations!! I’ve been lying low since Wednesday when I’d spent 5+ hours digging,weeding and chopping down/ digging out old rose and fuchsia bushes from my friend’s garden. She is unable to do it for herself so she made tea and brought out several glasses of water. Then I spent another hour laying weed membrane down and then helped carry the 16 bags of debris to my sons van and then to the dump and unloaded it all. By the time I got home I knew I’d overdone it and since then the back of my thighs, my shoulders and wrists have kept reminding me. I could barely get up from sitting and then re-sitting was agony too. I couldn’t even knit!!! Had to sit under a few cats and a blanket to recuperate. So I thought it was wise to wait a few days before running again.
I did do a bit of light pottering in the greenhouse and the strawberry bed yesterday but I wasn’t expecting much from today. I decided to run for 10 mins, then walk for 1 and see how I felt. I put the Bridgeto10k podcast on for a bit of encouragement …. And it worked.
I did my warmup walk and headed towards the river, if nothing else the scenery is good. And off I went. The first 10 mins went by in a flash and glancing at my watch while I walked I realised I’d been quite nippy. Probably due to thinking it might only be a short run. And then I was off again. There were a lot of runners about today - all very cheery and greeting me, which I returned with a smile. There was one quite fit looking guy of around my age who overtook me once, then ran back again and then overtook me again while I was plodding along. I consoled myself by thinking he wasn’t necessarily a lot faster than me - he probably just wanted to catch sight of my sexy bum in my pink lizard leggings a second time 🤣🤣. And then I was going along again. That 2nd 10 mins was harder but then as I turned and took off again I seemed to get a second wind and then last 2 x 10 mins were a lot easier and all of a sudden he was telling me “ workout complete”. And I realised I was almost at 5k so I battled on for a further 2 mins and did my first 5k since my op last August.
No gold medals for speed or technique but I feel like a real runner again now . 🤣now to build on this ….SLOWLY of course and I might get to 10K again one day.
Written by
limberlou
Graduate
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Outstanding! That's my favourite sort of run: no pressure, do 10/20/30/40 minutes or 2/4/5k - it really doesn't matter. Personally I find an ease comes with that notion.
Yes, my main trouble is I don’t know when to stop!! I can never just do an hour and stop.. I just keep going until I have overdone it
I go out in the garden in the summer to relax, then think oh I’ll just deadhead these couple of flowers…. And then I get the secateurs out and prune a bit, then a a bit more and then I look round and there is a 6’ high mound of greenery behind me and I still have to bag it up and get rid of it 🤣🤣
Yes, yes, YES,!!!! Well done 😁 I'm sure the cat-energised recuperating and pink lizard leggings had a part to play alongside running with a 'just do it' attitude 😸😻😺 🦎🦎🦎
Well done! That first 5K after a break feels so good. Of course you’ll get back to 10K again. There a a number of us getting our fitness back after a break (me included) - you are not alone 😊
The trouble with gardening is, it draws you in, and there’s always a bit more until you just can’t do any more.. and then you realise you’ve done too much! And there’s always an ache from something..
How lovely of you to help your friend like that.. I guess your reward was that it must have improved your strength and stamina, ready for that great run! Well done 👏🏃🏻♀️
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Yay! First sub 30 min 5k! 
First ever actual 5K 💪🏼
Achieved my first 5k! 
First 5k Parkrun Complete - Weymouth
🎆 Hooray! First 5k 🤸🏼♀️ 🐌
