Plan had originally been to run my 9k of the magic plan with all you other HU Spring HM/10k runners on Sunday at 9:30am.
But I fear I couldn’t wait that long. This morning the weather looked great (the pics do not do it justice), whereas the weather for Sunday looked miserable.
And to be honest, I couldn’t wait to try out some further firsts for me:
- running with the HU communities motivational slogans was going to be really exciting, and it was brilliant! Loved it! 👏🥰 So big thanks to Linda9389 and Roseabi for putting this together! (And an Edinburgh route!!!! 🙏)
- running my first ever 9k! I’m one week away from my first 10k ‘race’, the Easter Runderwear Festival of Running. I know the magic plan tells me to repeat the 9k before heading to 10k, but I think it should be ok to go from 9 to 10k in my very slow nico-nico joggling kind of way. Today felt doable, and beyond 9k I was walking up to 10.5k.
- and another real delight was the finding of a mud free, earthy path connecting where I live with the long former rail line that gives me 12k from my house (pics attached). I know this can be extended to a 20k out-and-back route! Woohoo!
- not quite a first, but Mr CBDB walked with me on my warm-up and then whilst me running for the first 3k, and we had put the HU Spring RUNGO run on, without any music, so we were able to chat and listen together to all the brilliant motivational sayings in RunGo. We had a good laugh!
I like out-and-back routes when I’m training to get up to a distance. I had one post consolidation when getting from 3.4 to 5k, and I had various solutions when I was working up to 10k. But this is the most beautiful solution yet.
It starts off with a late Victorian wide solid bridge over railways, leading on to a wooded paths between residential housing estates, secluded by dense wooden planting on one side and a fence to a former industrial side (twyfords ceramics) to the other. Than, across a road it follows a former railway across fields and brushy, wood areas often on an elevated path and with that not very muddy, all very empty of walkers, then after 3k joining the 5k stretch of a well maintained and well known wide former railway walking route.(no pics)
I knew already the latter part of this route but the link to it was a real find! I knew it existed, but I never got around to trying, until today.
So some fabulous firsts got me today and tomorrow I will be cheering on all the other HU Spring HM and 10k runners... oh, and also celebrating Mr CBDB’s birthday.
Happy running everyone!
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
morning run
