I was due to do run 2 of week 4 on Thursday but an unscheduled late finish from work meant it was too dark to run round the park, so as soon as I got in last night (Fri) I got changed, had a full glass of water (hoping Laura's tip would work, as I've suffered from stitch my last few runs) and plodded out into the pouring rain, which was somewhat invigorating in a tshirt and shorts! Also, I saw no other runners about at all, which made me feel a bit of a nutter. So I arrived at the park which I pretty much had all to myself, but it was certainly not as light as I thought it would be at that time, and all I could see was a light trundling across the middle of the park, which turned out to be a mobility scooter! Anyway - I'm not sure if it was the two-day rest (I always normally have one rest day) or the glass of water, or the weather, or maybe even because my fitness is improving, but the runs in this session were all really manageable and didn't feel anywhere near as tired as in run 1 where I had to really dig deep to finish that last 5 min run. I felt like I was going a bit faster this time (however this could be my imagination), and I was running in time with the music which really helped with pace and getting into a steady rhythm. AND this time I didn't get a stitch, which made it so much more enjoyable! Definitely will be drinking a full glass of water before all future runs.
By the end of the run, I was absolutely soaked through, my arms were cold and my ipod very soggy!! Think I need to think about some warm-yet-cool Winter gear, and some sort of waterproof holder for ipod.
Now, I'm planning to do run 3 tomorrow, and am well aware it could all fall to pieces and feel much harder than run 2, as from what I've read on here this seems to be quite common for some reason! But at least I'm prepared.