Good morning one and all.
Well, that was tough. Not that I was expecting it to be particularly easy or anything, but it was hard work. Allow me, please, to elaborate, but first, for those new here or haven't the faintest idea of what I speak, I'm referring to the 'Bridge to 10K' programme, which follows on from C25K. This is week one: four ten-minute segments of running, each interspersed with one* minute of walking, and with the standard five-minute warm-up/cool-down walk.
The morning started, as all my runs generally do, with the 0329 alarm. Sounds early but one does get used to it. One is shattered by the weekend, mind! Anyway, up I get (I think I hear raindrops emanating from outside. At least, I hope it's from outside or there's a serious issue somewhere!) and it's onward for the pre-run breakfast. The usual Peanut Butter Rice Cake and, as the distance is going up, four figs. Four of them. om nom nom. That done, time to get ready and head out.
Running gear on, out the door we go. It's drizzling, lightly, and is slightly misty. What a nice morning for a run. Still a bit dark too, at 0407. I like dark. Off we go then. I commence the walking and fire-up the MP3 player, looking for the B210K W1R1 file. Found it. Let's get going. Oh, hello, you must be Samantha. Sam, it's a pleasure to meet you. You are a bit quiet, yes. Five minutes of walking now to warm up. Set stopwatch and off we go; it is a very pleasant morning.
I press the Run button on Miss Garmin to get her locating her satellite friends. Onward we walk. The music sounds interesting; Laura could learn many much from Sami's choices. Anyway, onward. 04.37 of walking and I set Endomondo going. Sam starts walking and tells me to run. Woah, that's it? No forward warning to prepare myself?! I was warned about this but there really is no warning at all! Well, I'm not rushing. I'm on the little 'woodland trail thing' I discovered on yesterday's journey back from the cinema. It really is just an off-road path through some trees by the roadside, but it's not concrete and it's nice. I set Miss Garmin going and restart the stopwatch for running and I'm off.
The take-off goes without incident, as do the first five minutes: nice and settled, sort of, with no breathing issues, yet. I discover that it's actually really warm this morning too. So far so good; right turn now, up a hill, which gets steeper, evens out and gets steeper still before evening out and getting steeper before evening out. Yeah. Onward. The hill forces me to slow a bit but it's not as bad as it could have been. Still hard work, mind. That goes okay and I cross the road and start going up the other hill before Sam comes on to tell me to walk. Right you are. Thank goodness.
Throttling back and walking briskly now I take some water on board, having a good old guzzle.
* = I'm no timing expert but these one minute walking segments really aren't, unless my timing is waaaaay out! You see, dearest reader, I reset the stopwatch for the walking and by my count, on 43 seconds, Sam tells me to run again, with no warning whatsoever, just okay, run! Hmmmmm. Not a problem. Stopwatch reset and off we go again. All along the flat before turning left and descending. Obstacle now; have to duck under some ****ing railings, up a flight of stairs and across a footbridge, before going up a long steady hill. Time to walk again and by my count this is 53 seconds, give or take one or so, but definitely not a full minute, by my count, anyway. Onward.
Just under 5K now and the LNV (Little Nagging Voice) is starting, wondering if I should pack in at 5K. I must say, it's tempting. I can't; I'll carry on, see how I progress; I'm over half way anyway now. The music has been interesting so far; Britney was just on with Circus. She sings the following:
"There's only two types of guys out there,
Ones that can hang with me, and ones that are scared"
As one does when running at that time of a morning, one ponders this over. Could I hang with her, or am I scared? Well, the amount of drunks out in town this morning is astonishing; I'm on the road now just to keep out of the way; I think I can handle Britney just fine, thank you very much! 
The chance to see would be good! Onward, always.
Downhill now. Feeling quite tired but it's time for the last walk-break, which goes as quickly as the others and it's into the final ten. I change my already extended route a bit to allow for the extended distance. Seven minutes left; I'm glad I didn't stop earlier; it's damn hard work, but worth it. I carry on, slowing down a bit; I must start watching my pace more or I'm really gonna struggle. I look at Miss Garmin: 8.20K with a minute to go. On I go and it's getting really tough now. Sam comes on to say I've done it, I can walk! Woo! I actually let out a woop and raise my bottle in celebration; I don't give a fig (they're all at home anyway) who's watching. I decide to carry on to 8.5K. At 8.5K I think balls to it, 9K then stop. Well, that final 0.5K may as well have been a marathon with a 10K pinned onto the end of it. Len comes on: Steal My Sunshine. I like this! Glance at Miss Garmin: 9.01K in 46 minutes. That's enough; I'm physically exhausted. I go back to walking and down the rest of the water, feeling thoroughly shattered and invigorated. God that was hard.
I probably should have stopped when I was told to. But it's done now. I'm not sure how I feel about these podcasts. I mean. I'm very grateful for Sami for making them but the timings are out a bit (the walking segments, at least) and there really is no warning at all for interval transitions. I like the music but I'm wondering whether to carry on with the timings just using my stopwatch and my own music; at least then I know what's coming and when. Of course, that requires more forethought and planning, but Sam definitely kept me on my toes! I'll see; I'll have a think about it.
So, today I learnt that I must definitely pace myself for this to work. It's not easy. I'm glad I didn't stop: keep running, always. It IS worth it. Also, so many revellers out in town this morning! I just plodded on past them all; I'm getting used to it now and I don't think any bothered me. Not that I'd have known as you need the volume up reasonably high to hear Sami, but seeing as she's lower than the music, the music blasts and she's quiet, so there could have been an ambulance behind me with sirens going (at times I felt I needed it!) and I'd have known not a thing about it!
I notice that my right ankle is still sore; it's not painful as such, just a tiny dull ache; I realise this is the symptom of a stress fracture, but I'm not too worried at the moment: it could be anything. It's not so bad now and when I'm running it vanishes totally. Just a little bit of discomfort, mainly at rest. No swelling or pain when probed. I'll monitor it: if it's the same on Friday, I'll RICE over the weekend; still no change by next week I'll see the doctor. But it goes when running so I doubt it's a fracture. It's not troubling me now either as I write this; probably just muscle soreness.
So that's it for today; I feel great now, so invigorated, but that was definitely a tough step-up. not impossible by any means but it wasn't easy!
Happy running, everyone, no matter what stage of the programme, and beyond, you're at. If you're resting or injured, happy resting.
Onward, always. 
after that the only thing I will want to do is sink into a long hot bath. 
The music was good today and definitely better than Laura's choices! 
WK5 R3...the scary one
B210K Week 1 Run 1 under the belt :-)
