Greetings of the morn, my dearest fellow C25Kers. And what a nice, bright sunny morn it is too. 
Well, this morning's run was quite interesting. I ran without Laura today; I figured she deserved a day off, so I'll leave her sleeping. I don't really like to disturb her, you know. I think that's what all the vanishing and hiding is about; she just needs a break now and again; she is, after all, only human. I decided last night, after the preparation of the CRM (of course, Chocolate Recovery Milk) that I'd run without Laura today, and use my own music. Well, that was the plan, anyway. Turns out I'd be running, mostly in silence, but more on that very shortly.
So, to add a slight bit of variation I set this morning's alarm for 0353 and I do feel really tired when waking up; it's been a really long, tiring week at work. There's no argument with myself though; I get straight up. I do wonder how today will go though as my stomach still feels 'heavy' from my tea last night. Eating a bit later (though not as late as Wednesday night!) than normal, and for the third night running, eating cheese, I just feel like it hasn't settled properly. I hope that doesn't cause problems later; last thing I, or anyone, for that matter, want is to to suffer an RVI. (Random Vomiting Incident.)
I have my usual pre-run breakfast of two figs, three Brazil buts and a peanut butter-topped rice cake, get changed, and off I go out the door. It's quite chilly at 0430 but much lighter today. I set the music going; hitting shuffle presents me with Selfie by the Chainsmokers. (What's not to like?) Put the phone away, set my stopwatch for five minutes and I start a-brisk walking. Immediately the sound starts to cut, as it likes to do; up until now it's been largely tolerable but even when just walking it's unlistenable, unless I physically hold the headphone jack and I can't really run like that; people will wonder what the hell is wrong with me!
Then, three minutes into the walk, nothing. Has it paused? I retrieve the phone to find it's restarting. Bloody thing! Why?! Well, at least it didn't do it halfway through when Endomondo was running. After it finishes its restart procedure I go to reinstate the music but it's so slow as it boots back up. Cutting through a small park with a wooded path, a man emerges with, in the tight confines and close proximity of the trees, what appears to be fifty wolves. There's probably only about four or five, big white, beautiful-looking wolfie things, but he, and they, take up the entire path. I'm still faffing with my phone and there's nowhere to step aside to. I about-turn and walk back down the path and find another route.
That done I finally get the music running again and as five minutes is very nearly up, I set Endomondo, as Velvet Elvis by Alex Winston comes on, then promptly stutters out between headphones and then goes quiet, cutting in occasionally or when I hold the headphone jack. I reset my stopwatch and start running. Right, that is it. There does come a point when even the most reasonable, calm of people says: "enough". I've had enough; I can't do this any more. Not the running, that's not the issue, but this sound problem. It needs sorting and it needs sorting before next week. I'm off to buy an MP3 player tomorrow, ready for W8R1 on Monday. Nothing expensive or fancy, just something that will actually bloody work.
On we go then, I'm running one of my usual routes, but with a slight difference; I do like to vary things a bit. There is one steepish hill midway through anyway but I include another about a quarter of the way in. I start to tackle it and wonder, immediately, if I should turn around and descend, as I wonder with every hill I ascend, it seems. There's no shame in it! But I continue. It gets steeper and steeper and I wonder why I chose the thing. Nearly at the top now and I push on; TA-DAAAAA, I'm up it, turning the corner and descending. I'm quite glad I tackled that. I should add that I got the usual five-minutes-in thoughts of "can I do this today? I don't think I can......" but I ignored them. Always ignore them. Half way through the run now, well, a bit after that actually; the detour has added more time than I expected, but that's okay, I start to ascend the other hill. This will require some effort. I play with the headphone jack again to see what's going on and I hear the warblings of Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO. 'Every day I'm shuffling.....' how very apt. It spurs me on and soon enough I'm up that hill. Woop!
I always am glad when I get to about the twenty-minute mark. It's the first ten or so when I wonder if I should stop but I've learnt that's normal. In my early days here, I think it was the very good, fine JuJu, and Mr Dan, who I saw say "never, ever stop, unless you're injured...". I'm paraphrasing but that was the gist. Am I injured? no. Then continue! The point of this is, to any of the newer members still reading (thank you, by the way; I realise I ramble, thank you for sticking with it!) this, wondering if those of us in the latter stages of the programme just sail through with it being easy peasy with no thoughts of doubt, I assure you, that is not the case - it's still hard work, but very rewarding, but push on!
23 minutes now. Nearly there! I'm glad I didn't stop! I'm glad I added that extra hill! Woop! I go into my own little world again, bemoaning the lack of music to myself, and then wonder when the twenty-five minutes will be up, as it seems like an age has gone by. I check my watch: 26.33. What?! I know I went off into daydream land, but still. Ah, sod it, carry on to twenty-seven minutes and then go to walking for five. Twenty-seven minutes arrives and I slow to a brisk walk. I've done it! And I feel great! Truly exhausted, but great! Yay!
In a way, running without music today helped me focus more on my breathing, concentrating on it to get it right. It was quite laboured through most of the run but levelled up toward the end quite nicely. To be honest, by the 27 minute mark I felt I was in my stride (took bloody long enough) and wanted to carry on, but I was good and slowed to my cool-down walk.
So that's week seven complete. I cannot believe how fast the weeks are flying by! I hope everyone else has brilliant runs today, or has a very pleasant rest day. Come on, my fellow seveners, week eight awaits!
All in all, apart from technological issues and the Wolfman, it was incident-free, which was nice. Onward, to week eight!
It's impossible to predict how they're going to go, isn't it? I think, more than anything, it was the tiredness that affected your performance. I've struggled this week and while longer distances will have contributed, so will tiredness as it's been a manic week. You've done great and yes, just six more runs now to graduation! Rest easy and you'll be fine for Monday's run! 
x
Week three. Run three. 
Week six, run two semi completed...
