^^^^^ Soggy shoes, are soggy.
Good morning, dearest fellow C25Kers! And what a morning: it's downporious! YAY! 
As perchance you can tell, it rained. Well, it didn't, it poured, all way through. And it was wonderful; so cooling, refreshing and invigorating. I was so tired this morning when I awoke that I did wonder, briefly, if going out was such a good idea, but I'm glad I did. Am I ever glad I did!
It all started, as always it must, at 0339, when the alarm went off. I set three alarms, in case I set through the first, (0339, 0357 and 0401) but thankfully I'm always up at the first alarm. But, *yawns* I feel so tired, due to running a bit late at work yesterday. Is this a good idea? Probably not, in all honesty, but not to worry, I'll give it a go. Up I get.
Where's my watch? I put it out with my kit last night. Where is it? *hunts around* *hunts around more* Where the hell is it?! I will run without it if necessary but I do like it as I find the stopwatch invaluable. No sign of it. I decide to go and get my pre-run breakfast (PRB) and look again after. The three figs and the peanut butter-topped rice cake are, as ever, quite the treat. om nom nom. Back to get changed and look for the watch again; I know I was tired last night but seriously, WHERE is it?! No idea. Ah well, have to run without it. As I go to the mirror I notice something out of the corner of my eye on the floor, at the foot of the bed: my watch! What the bloody hell is it doing THERE?! Unless it got flung there as I was hunting earlier? Possible. Ah well, found it now. Running a few minutes 'late' now, thanks to all that kerfuffle (I say 'late', it's still not even 0420 yet) so I quickly gather my waistbelt, fill the water bottle and off I go.
Out the door and oh, it's pouring with rain! I didn't realise! Woop! I quickly find Laura (no day off for her this week; I consider running to my own music again but I d wanna hear The Julie Song again.......!) and we're off on the warm-up walk. BRRRRRRR, it's chilly (I'm in shorts and a t-shirt) and breezy too, but I know I'll warm up. I'm drenched already, and I love it! I decide I am going to run the route I ran on Wednesday, but I'll run it the other way round. It means a long, steady incline/hill early on, but then, there's a steeper hill if I do it the other way round, so meh, either or really.
The ever-informative (when she's not being a lil minx and hiding) Laura tells me it's time to run. I set Endomondo running just before, set my stopwatch, (glad I have it with me) throttles forward, speed increases, engines roar and we're off; successful take-off, gear up and we reach cruising speed. Up a little but steeply angled hill to start with, which soon levels out. A couple of minutes in and I feel awake but my breathing doesn't want to know - it's ragged already. Not a good sign. I go through an underpass; in one of the early weeks, week two or three, I think it was, I nearly collided with a bicyclist who came barrelling around the corner as I exited a different underpass. I wondered then how to deal with it, as it's a blind turn. Slow down a bit, obviously, and make a warning noise. But what noise? I coo. I coo like a pigeon. A very large pigeon. Who is running. And is a flappy hazard. I always coo on exiting an underpass now. A couple of minutes later and it's time to tackle the loooong incline. Going up that my breathing gets worse and the nagging "should I stop" starts to sound. The "You Should Stop" (YSS) warning light flashes, and warning buzzer sounds. I cancel it. I press on. I don't want to stop.
I get to the top, turn right and, inexplicably, increase speed a bit, as for some reason that sometimes helps settle me, and there's a flat gradient now. It works! I soon settle into the run, my breathing normalises and I start to enjoy it! Thank goodness! I was, by the way, breathlessly singing along to Julie whilst going up the hill. I thought you should know. We start to descend a little now and I'm really enjoying myself. I'm glad I ignored the early discomforts and pushed on. The hill gets steeper now, but of course, I'm descending; I watch my pace so as not to go too fast. I'm in my own little world and quickly realise I should have taken the path to my left, as this is a dead end! No worries, about turn, and I'm on the right track. Again.
Onto level ground again but this is a bit strange as although it's flat, there's quite a camber so it feels like I'm running uphill. Twenty-five minutes in now and my legs start to feel heavy. I press on. The rain is really, really helping keep my core temperature down, which is great; can it rain on every run, please? A police BMW X5 passes me; I nod at the officer driving, he smiles back, probably thinking "stupid bugger, out at this time, in this weather, dressed like that...."!
Twenty-eight minutes now and Laura, kindly, informs me that I can stop and that I've done great. But I'm so settled now, and having a great time, that again, I naughtily plod on. Two and a bit minutes later, I slow to the cool-down walk. Exhausted, but well and truly buzzing. I soon arrive home and it's time for the oh-so delicious CRM, some stretching, a nice bath and to post here.
So, that's W8R3 done. Graduation Week looms! Eeep! Very, very good luck to everyone out running today, COME ON, my fellow Eighters! 
If you're resting today, enjoy!
Onward! Don't listen to that nagging voice! And for goodness sake don't stop if it tells you to! ONWARD!
Week Eight. Run Three
Week Six, Run Three
Come rain or shine..... I now consider myself a runner! (Week 7, Run 1)
Week Six Run Three
Woohoo! I did it! Week 9, run 3 in the pouring rain!
