Well, after 3 weeks or so doing only 1 run a week and moving the rest of my cardio onto an elliptical machine, I thought I'd try a veeeery slow long run this morning. As I've been doing a lot of low impact exercise I felt I'd try to keep going where I left off, so 8k.
Wanting to be very careful, and having some time available today, I started with my calf raises and squats, then a little bit of foam rolling and then some stretches. Then 5 minutes slow walk and 5 minutes brisk walk. Started out the run at a very leisurely pace... my running belt was driving me mad (but for the environmental impact, it would have gone in the river!), my headphones wouldn't stay put, I couldn't get comfortable... then I realised I hadn't started my running watch. Almost gave up and went home at that point. Gremlins took the first 0.5k.
But then I got settled and just kept plodding along. Coach Bennet was very helpful in this regard and made me smile a few times (the 5 mile run). I found the commentary on how to "shape" the run (in terms of pace) very useful, and the idea of getting input at specific distances (rather than times) was novel and saved me from the disaster of not starting my watch. Had a bit of a wobble for a few moments when I got a strange pain in my bum, but this resolved within 5 minutes or so.
Anyhow, I got to the end and then a bit more to get back to the point I normally end my run. So I reckon it was at least 8.25k today.
Hurray! Back on track.