Well, there we are then: 10k covered. Excuse me while I prick myself to see if I am awake.
I had only run two 5ks in the whole of February to date due to an infuriating back injury and a host of problems at home varying from electric supply re-routing to a poorly dog ( and a sleepless night on the floor comforting her). So, I set out in glorious sunshine today with no intention other than running very slowly for a short distance while listening to Shrewsbury's game on the radio app. I was held up when my leap over an electric fence turned out to be a leap into an electric fence. Truly shocking behaviour. I lost a couple of minutes putting it right...good job I'm an ex sheep farmer and knew how.
It was pretty damned cold as I chugged along but it was utterly and soul-pleasingly glorious: the skylarks were rising and serenading the sun while the yellowhammers - or 'yellerommers' as they call them here-were skimming the hedges in mating frenzy. Talking of hedges, we are coming to the end of hedge-cutting season for farmers and the roads were completely covered in thorns like miniature tank traps...I had to stop and pull a couple out of my shoes before they spiked me.
Shrewsbury went one up shortly after my adventure with the fence and the store lambs decided to run round the field in sympathy with the strange, cumbersome oaf invading their world.
I was struggling to keep my heart rate down today: not sure why as my breathing was super easy. So, I dropped my pace a bit more and as if by magic Shrewsbury scored again. Note to self: if Shrewsbury are struggling, run slower. I had intended to stop at 5k but it felt good so I thought I would pop another couple in. Before I knew it, Shrewsbury had won. The sun was a glorious red orb in a perfect sky and my Garmin said I had done 8k-my previous best. So, I turned for another lap of the bridle path and-hopefully-9k. But, what do you do when you have done 90% of your ultimate goal and everything is going well? I pushed on. I have to admit the last kilometre was hard...I really felt it and my fifteen stone frame never felt heavier and 60 no longer seemed the new 40. But, I did it.
Am I chuffed? Well, on a scale of one to ten, about twelve.
As I had set out to go slowly-and lost several minutes fighting with electric fencing- the time was pretty poor at over 1 hour 20 mins. My moving pace was 7:47mins/km and overall bang on 8. But that doesn't matter-plenty of time to improve time. I still can't believe that I have run 10k when back in October I struggled to run 100 metres.
The picture is me being congratulated by my co-trainer, a recouperating Lucy.
Off to watch the recorded rugby games now.
Cider is in order.
Well done on turning an adventure into a triumph. Not many of us could go through an electric fence and a road full of tank traps on our way to a new distance goal. Congrats 
I only went and did it! the Larkfield 10k graduation run
Well that was my short and fast run of the week and....
Week 4 NRC 10K plan: “Grateful 8k run” aka 5 miles of fun!
