Last weekend I set out on Saturday afternoon to run 10 miles. This is a distance that I have only done once before and that was over a year ago, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, now my pace is building back up again after injury.
So all prepared, with route planned, I headed out on a glorious sunny afternoon. Within the first couple of kilometres I felt that it was not going to go well.....breathing seemed laboured, legs felt heavy, niggles played up all over my anatomy and I was finding it hard work and not really enjoyable. By the time I reached 5k and had walked up part of a hill, I decided that 10 miles was out of the question, so I cut my losses and decided to do 10k instead.
After running for nearly two years, I don't believe in “bad” runs. Every run is training for the next one, has been my philosophy for a long time........but I have to put this experience down as the exception.......it was a bad run.
This Saturday I was out of the door before 7.30, with a fresh Easterly wind and the sun in my face and by the time I had covered those same two initial kilometres I was thinking, “This feels good!”It was. I loved every minute. I slogged up the same hill that beat me last week. I felt strong and nothing was hurting, my music was uplifting and the spectacular red soils of the ploughed fields vied for attention with the fresh green grass and the vivid yellow of the fields of rape, all under a deepening blue sky. I love Devon. Half way round I admit I stopped to have a chinwag with a mate who was out walking his dog, giving me opportunity to top up my fluids and get a breather. A mix of old familiar routes and some bits I had never run before, kept it interesting and my pace was up to where it was prior to my injury.
Life is good when you are running strong!
I knocked seven minutes off my last 10 mile time and my average pace for this one was 6:09m/k, including my stop for a chat. Last week, running much of the same route, I only managed 6:22m/k for the 10k, which left me exhausted.
Naturally when this sort of thing happens, you question what differences were there between the circumstances of the two runs. Time of day and temperature are obvious, my lack of sleep the previous week and the fact that I had just completed two work contracts before this last run also contributed to the variation in my preparedness, attitude and physical state.
Last week's “bad” run did not discourage me, while this week's brilliant run positively boosted me mentally and made me feel that I am just about back up to speed and got me thinking of strategies to attack my ridiculous parkrun PB, which has stood, without me getting within 30 seconds of it, for over a year.
Learning to run takes more than nine weeks.......it takes more than two years, I believe (I am a slow learner).....and developing the ability to assess what is sensible to tackle on any given day is all part of the process. Long may the learning carry on, if it is as pleasurable as my last run.
Every run is training for the next one.....keep running, keep smiling.
sounds like a great run and a positive general philosophy! 
Week 8, run 3 - another one bites the dust
Any one run regularly with B12d?
2nd Post Graduation Run 
Week 8 Run 3
Week 7 run 1 - confused.
