I wasn’t sure how long I wanted to run for this morning, but I’d already done a 3K run earlier in the week. So I wanted a longer run. Maybe I’ll do a 45 minute run.
It wasn’t a beautiful morning; in fact, I left the house to that ‘almost’ drizzle, but it wasn’t cold. I decided to listen to some music. I wanted to do a Zone 3 run (as most of my longer runs are) and thought I thought I would sing along to Santana to keep my running at ‘easy conversational pace’ 😊
I walk uphill to the park and start my watch, walking briskly for the first 90 seconds then break into a slow jog. I notice my heart rate has gone into Zone 4, so I backed off a bit more until it dropped, surprisingly into Zone 2 for a while.
I follow my route round and stop looking at my watch. I’m now starting the 4th km and psyching myself up for the Demon Hill. I focus on the road ahead and realised I’ve gone past the turning. Or have I? A few seconds of indecision and I turn back. Too busy singing 😂. Now I’m on the right road. Oh yes! I shorten my stride and plod up the hill. At the steepest part, just before the traffic lights I think “One day, this is going to get easier. Maybe even today!” Well, no. It wasn’t today! But I didn’t stop. I crest the hill carrying on at a similar pace. Funny how the stats don’t reflect my struggle. Probably because it’s downhill after the traffic lights!
I run round the little park and get to 5K. I decide I’m not finished yet, so carry on through the underpass and the long way home. 6.5K done and 60 minutes slow running, mostly in Zones 2/3. Quite happy with that!
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
morning run
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
