Another 10k and the story in my head

[Omiah]

We'd been on holiday and it had been 3 weeks without a decent run, let alone a second 10k; maybe the first one was a fluke. Lots of hill walking but no running and I felt like I had really lost my mojo...so I thought I would just get outside. Run as far as you feel like, no one cares, no one's going to criticise, don't set yourself up for NOT doing something well, celebrate whatEVER you do.

I set off, and walked my usual 5 minute walk - and then found I had walked past the usual place I start running. Immediately started negative thinking but put that aside and ran. Within 5 minutes I was thinking I could stop and walk a bit, what would happen if I walked then ran etc. what if I couldn't start again, what if, what if...I was still running but felt slow and leaden and then started thinking of all the other things I am not good at (I won't list them). By now I had been running 10 minutes and thought, if I turn round now that's another 10 minutes I have to run. Or I could maybe walk it in 15 given how slow I am running. But I would have been running - or run walking - for 20 or 25 minutes. That's fine! Maybe I could call home and ask for a lift home. For some reason that didn't happen. I kept going til I had run 5k and then - sorry to namecheck - Grannyhugs came to mind as she had told me I'd be fine when I was doing my first 10k. Then my left knee and hip began to hurt but I did run all the way back so the next 10k happened after all. I'll wear my knee support next time.

That was last Sunday week. It took me the rest of that day to recover but I was quietly satisfied that I could still run this far. Sorry for what feels like a negative post, but I guessed that I might not be the only one afflicted with the self flagellation gene! This run started me back up from a trough of depression, and the key was to tell myself that any distance was fine. And it is. Any speed is fine. To run for 5 minutes instead of none? It's great. And next time could be 10.

What's next is to think about different routes and times and difficulty with regular 10k runs and try for 11 then 12. ...

[Grannyhugs Graduate10]

Fantastic 10km that sounds like it was a real battle of wills, but battle you did. An idea that may help us to keep a running total for a month, you’ll be amazed at the total distance you are managing. So proud of you. Keep going, happy running 🤗

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

I think we’ve all got that gene you know, it’s where we keep it in our life. that run was great, I’m a huge believer of get out there walk then when warmed up run and see what happens