This came about totally on a whim. I had a migraine first thing and went back to sleep. I woke up hours later and feeling much better, but in dire need of some fresh air. A nice easy run seemed in order. The plan was to load up the 8k and run/walk it. The sun was finally shining and I started feeling positive.
This run starts with an intro from Coach B and then he disappears until you’ve hit 1km. Maybe that’s not that long if you’re speedy but tor me, especially at the start of what’s supposed to be an easy run, that’s a lot of quiet. I’d prefer more chat at the beginning as I’m getting through the toxic ten and less later when I’m in the swing of things. Maybe that’s just me.
Often, I struggle to keep to a truly easy pace, but today chill felt natural and comfortable. It was one of those “get in a rhythm and just keep it going” runs. I’ve had so many more of those recently and I think that’s all down to going out more consistently. Hooray for having a plan! I’m really finding this one helpful.
Coach B invites you to be grateful for all sorts of things during the run. Good runs. Bad runs. People who put up water fountains and public loos (they’ve not made it as far as my rural route!). Books and libraries. People who make you laugh. I am grateful for all of these things but I was a bit less up for thinking about them today than usual. Perhaps trying to do this run alongside a talk based podcast was a mistake! It did its job in keeping me going though and I found the distance updates helpful. Maybe I’ve just done a few too many thankful/grateful runs and the comments were a bit too familiar to have that much impact today.
My run was really great though. It felt chilled out all the way through, even up over a couple of hills. I was concentrating more on my podcast than the run and that’s always a good sign that I’m having a nice time. Sometimes, inexplicably, running after feeling rubbish feels great and that was what happened today. Five miles came up surprisingly quickly and I finished exactly at the village shop. After a few stretches holding on to the community notice board, I popped in for a coffee and a bargain Turkish delight bar from the discount table! Looking at the stats, every mile was half a minute faster than the previous one. It’s always a bonus when that happens!
I’m grateful that I was able to complete this run, which is actually my longest since September. I don’t think I’d repeat this particular guided run but five miles is my favourite distance to run and it didn’t disappoint today!
Anyone else done this one yet?
PS: I forgot to take pictures so this one is from last night’s walk
