Well, I’ve been totally rubbish at posting of late, the weather has been rubbish, I have a myriad of rubbish things happening as well as guests who appear as if by magic at this time of year. The list of woes is ridiculous and boring so I won’t repeat it. On the plus side I have continued my running with a mix of results – I’m so glad that it was already a habit by the time the "rubbish" hit as it could well have thrown me off balance if it had been prior to graduating. Here is a selection of the runs that bubble to the top of my mind:
The one in the evening – so, I’d managed to talk myself out of the early morning on the day I should have done it, and the next day but then felt cross with myself and determined to try an evening run instead. Mixed things up with a new route over some fields to add a bit of interest. Learned that running as the light is fading rather than intensifying is not for me. I don’t much like driving at dusk either when straining to see but without much help from headlights. It felt a bit like that. Also, its much busier on the roads and I felt somehow stale and dispirited at the end, rather than motivated and pleased.
The long one – one lovely sunny morning I decided to drive to my “flat route” and see how I got on, and I got on very well, running to the West with the sea on my left to the end of the harbour before turning around and running back with the sea on my right, along the prom, past the Jubilee pool, the wet dock, the dry dock, the next harbour, the railway station and on beyond the town. I turned back and realised the wind had picked up and was blowing against me – but I did 8 km for the first time which felt like a bit of an achievement – even if its almost entirely level.
The rainy one – Having got through the entire C25k without any rain, the last month has been shocking. I thought I had better see what its like actually setting out knowing it will be wet. I fear I am a fair-weather runner. I did not like getting wet. I didn’t like accidentally getting one foot in a puddle so I was unevenly wet, I didn’t like feeling both hot and cold. I especially didn’t like running downhill on slippery surfaces. I didn’t like my clothes being wet. I think C25k spoiled me. I have as a result bought a strange looking wet weather gillet/rain coat specifically for wet weather running in a Sweaty Betty sale (not tried – saving for seriously wet) and a winter running thermal/water repellent top from the same sale which I already love and is perfect for the chilly, damp starts of late. It has thumb holes and a good pocket and the rain sort of just beads on the surface, but I don’t get too hot inside.
The abandoned one – started off on one run that just felt dreadful. Body complaining, mind complaining. I had a stern talking to myself and carried on, First km was bad. Toxic 10 was bad. Decided to “Geoff” it and see if it improved. It didn’t. Told myself that I had enough runs under my belt where I had got through the various physical or mind blocks to know that this was quite different. I turned everything off and walked home. I also gave myself an extra day off and this was the only week since May 1st where I have only done 2 runs.
The faster one – My Kms seem to start with a 7 or 8 min. There is no way I’ll be able to do 5 km in 30 mins if it stays that way. Decided to try going a little bit faster, but not for as long. Was pleased to hear that my first km started with a 6 and managed to keep it up for 3 kms. It took 20 mins and I was glad to stop but also pleased that I could go a bit quicker for a change.
The 10K one – Yes I have done 10K now – August 14th – coincidentally but unintentionally exactly 15 weeks from W1R1 on May 1st. Hadn’t thought to do it at the start, although had decided I would go for a “longer” run and just set off at a very gently pace – albeit forgot my watch which links up all sorts of info about my heart rate etc. Annoyingly I had a funny twinge in my hip which I thought I would run out but it never really left. The 5th Km was very slow because I’d managed to get myself on a section of slippery muddy footpath so had to be a bit careful. When I’d done 8 km I realised I was still about 2 km from home so just carried on – aided by 3 downloaded episodes of “I’m sorry I haven’t a clue” which kept me laughing throughout. Added a little bit of an extra local lane I'd not been along before just to make sure I achieved the distance without having to overshoot my home. I'd said I would do a 10km fun run thing in October with a friend which I'd had a few niggling doubts about but now I am pretty sure I will be able to finish. I will just carry on mixing up the runs and the time and the speeds and the distances and see what happens…. Onwards!
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
