Thoughts on Week 8

[Spongecake7]

I had serious trouble with gremlins on Monday for my first week 8 run. The run was tough - I'd driven to a nearby village for a different route to distract me, only to find I had to battle some serious hills.

Gremlins: You're not very good at this and you're not enjoying it. What's the point, you're probably going to give up after you graduate anyway.

It was so helpful to think about the forum and feel accountable to you all. I think I'm worried about the lack of structure after next week. I did manage to get up early and do r2 this morning - unheard of as I do love my bed!

So, week 8 has thrown up some mixed feelings for me. Thanks for 'listening'!

[Irishprincess Graduate]

Well the gremlins clearly don't know what they're talking about (they never do) because you have successfully completed all the runs up to now and that takes some serious commitment, hard work and sweat. Oh, and you've done hills too! And you've got up extra early to run! You have a few runs left, you will do this and then you get your shiny graduate badge ⭐️ . And then you can do whatever you want and that might mean just running for the pure pleasure of it!

So, lock those gremlins up and throw away the key. They know nothing.

[Spongecake7 Graduate in reply to Irishprincess]

Thank you! I need that encouragement.

[Ullyrunner Graduate]

Give up! That's not allowed. We'll be round to rattle your letter box if you even think about it!

Well done for pressing on - you are proving to yourself that you can do this!

[AkinyiRuns5k Graduate]

Thank you for sharing! I also definitely think about the forum as accountability as well as support. Your post is really inspiring in just getting out there and getting it done.

[Spongecake7 Graduate]

Thank you Ully and Akiny.

[Slinkyminky Graduate]

Just remember the gremlins cant beat you, only 5 more runs until you graduate!

I think when i graduate (saturday hopefully) i will do some of the 5k+ podcasts as im better at sticking to things i have a plan to follow

[Spongecake7 Graduate in reply to Slinkyminky]

Good idea - thank you!

[JaySeeSkinny Graduate]

The gremlins never go away - even after graduation. Mine sit on my shoulder for the first 5 minutes, muttering and mocking. But they're quite lazy and don't tend to come for the whole run. At some point early on they jump off and go for a snooze in the trees. But they do wait for me on the way back and as soon as they hear me coming, about 1km from home, they're awake and hurling their abuse (sometimes they even throw cherries)! You just learn to live with them!

You're nearly there - and then the fun starts!

[debg39 Graduate]

HI Spongecake, I totally understand where you are coming from and to be honest it is good to hear as I have been battling these pesky gremlins since week 8 and have been thinking about giving up but I am really proud to say that this morning at 7.00am I graduated, not with ease, I had to do 4 runs in week 9 as on run 2 my legs just stopped working at 26 minutes - most inconvenient - so had to do that run again.

I am feeling pretty good now (a little knackered) but good. This is how you will feel in a very short space of time (4 runs) so please tell those gremlins to back off and let your hard work and sense of achievement come to fruition.

Really wish you well and look forward to seeing you graduate, YOU CAN DO THIS x

[Spongecake7 Graduate]

Congratulations! Well done for winning the battle and graduating. Hopefully we'll both have many years of enjoying running - despite the gremlins (even cherry throwing ones (eek! JaySeeSkinny !)

Please let me know how you get on in the next few weeks.