Oh, what a beautiful morning!

[Soozz]

Slightly achey after a double-whammy (2 hour) fitness session yesterday and a couple of busy days running round at work, I wondered if going out for a run this morning was the best idea. But the weather forecast for tomorrow is so dire, I knew it was today or wait till Monday if I wanted to run. So off I went. It was rather grey and cool and I thought I'd probably end up walking before my husband stopped to pick me up en route for Tesco.

I started running...and felt instantly energised, with a dopey grin on my face as I went along, listening to C25k+ Stamina. Kept going up a long steady incline back up from the river. Hard work but I was enjoying it, the temperature was actually perfect for running.

And then the sun came out...blue skies, with sunshine coming through the trees and lighting up the green fields. What could be better than being out on a beautiful Autumn morning, accepting a challenge ( I'd done part of this route before but never as far as where Martin had arranged to meet me and I doubted I'd be anywhere near that point by 9.10) ?

I DID IT! Got to the meeting point BEFORE he got there, and although it wasn't a great distance (3 1/2 miles) it involved some serious long pulls uphill, so I was chuffed to bits!

I'll be walking on air for the rest of the day!

Happy running, people!

[notbad Graduate]

Hi Sooz, good to see you are still enjoying your runs. Your title is uncanny for me as I actually sang this song this morning, so inspired by a sunny parkrun was I.

But hang on, ONLY 3 1/2 miles??? I think that's pretty good going!

[Oldgirl Graduate]

Well done Soozz, nice one 'only 3.5 miles' its not that long since we thought how good we were by managing 3 minutes, how we all change once we take up this running lark

[Scipio Graduate]

Hi Soozz, good to see you're still running.

Not sure if you'll remember, but you & I started this plan at around the same time last year, encouraging each other along the way - only you graduated & I didn't! (I hurt my knee after W5) I came back to it this year & graduated this time around, and I'm loving my running. I'm so glad to see you are still running & obviously enjoying it!

[Soozz Graduate in reply to Scipio]

Ah, well done, Scipio! Yes, of course I remember you, we were all panicking about each run as it came along! Congratulations on your graduation. I couldn't have done C25k without this community, although I don't get a lot of time to come on the website these days (new job) I still think about you all and it's great when we get a chance to catch up!

[Soozz Graduate]

Lol abut the 'only 3 1/2 miles' - there was no way I could have done yesterday's run a year ago (I graduated on 9 September 2012). It wasn't exactly a walk in the park yesterday! Sometimes I feel totally inadequate in comparison with those C25k peers who are now running half marathons etc but hey, we're all different ( I still haven't run 10k). I enjoy it and am loads fitter so that's what counts.

Spare a thought for those running the Great North Run today - it's the most vile day, blowing a hoolie, and intermittent downpours. Hope it goes well for them all!

Great to hear from you all.