Week 4 Run 2- first real 'I can't do it' moment

[Bandersnatch]

I chose a route across the beach today and ended up running the first bit of the 5 minutes on soft sand (don't- you'll break something!), up a flight of stairs, and then up a hill. I've never felt so bad during a run before- my calves were burning, I couldn't catch my breath, and I could feel a panic attack coming on (I suffer from anxiety disorder and OCD). I was all ready to stop and write off the whole run as a bad job when Laura told me I was half-way through. God only knows how I got through the next 2-and-a-half minutes but I did. The rest of the run- no more soft sand, no steps, no big hills- was much much better, but this has been my first moment during the program where I've really thought that I *can't* do what I've been asked to do. I get easily discouraged and I think if I fluffed a run I'd find excuses never to run again- an OCD thing maybe-and it was a scary few moments thinking I'd have to quit, which I would have had Laura not chipped in at the moment she did. Phew!

[Nerdio Graduate]

You did it though. Well done.

The programme really works, if you stick with it (nothing wrong with re-doing a week either). Sometimes it does really sound like a tall order, but if you have done all the preceding runs, then you will be ready for it, you just might not think so. And that is the mental hill only you can climb. With every successful week your confidence will build, stamina improve, and you will get fitter.

I will do Week 6 Run 3 tomorrow morning. I look back on those early weeks, and at the time they were hard. Now I think to myself I am through that, they don't seem so bad now.

Keep running and keep blogging. You CAN do it!

[NaughtyNanna Graduate]

Yes I remember trying to run on sand on a weekend away a while ago, I think it was wk4 run 1, I had this romantic idea that it would be great, sea, sand, sunshine-ahhhh !- but like you, the sand was wet and it was hard going, so I diverted to the promenade, much easier!!!! Well done for keeping going, once your mind starts telling you that you can't do it, it is a battle, but you won! Well done, just keep following Laura and you will get there!

[LillyBeth]

Running on sand is incredibly hard work so well done! Some surfaces can be deceptively difficult, as I found out recently when I decided to go off-road and slightly sprained my ankle! What looked like a nicely ploughed field, that would be firm but cushioning, was really a combination of hard lumps mixed with loose soil and was an absolute nightmare to run on