Week 9 run 1

[Simmypie]

The gremlins invaded my dreams last night! They were telling me that run 9 was going to be a failure and that I would give up halfway through!

I shouldn't be having anxiety dreams about running, this close to the end!

I got up at 7.10 and had a banana, waited an hour and then left the house, passing by my treadmill who looked on reproachfully and asked if I didn't love her anymore? I told her I would be back in her embrace when the bad weather comes again.

I went to my grassy playing field nearby, walked the warm up and then ran around the edges. There was a nice cool breeze.

The first ten minutes (or two songs of my playlist) went okay, no gremlins muttering.

I got to just over half way by my estimate and then found it a bit harder going than the last time so I went a bit more slowly.

I passed a few dog walkers, one of whom had a rottweiler which took a particular interest and came right up to me, so I jogged on the spot until the owner called it away as I didn't want it to chase me. I kept well away from it after that.

Then I ran until I estimated it was about 28 minutes and then "one more song" until the end. And then Gravity by Embrace came on and I had a good rhythm going to the beat, so I jogged for a few minutes more.

In your face gremlins!

A couple of rest days now, then runs on Sunday and hopefully Tuesday which should be graduation day! After that who knows....

[Ullyrunner Graduate]

Hooray - well done!

I'd be nervous around a Rottweiler too. You never quite know how they are going to react.

[BigGirlJogging Graduate]

Awesome, way to show that Gremlin who is boss

[Cianalas]

Yay, well done! Enjoy your 2 runs before graduation and beyond... 😊

[McFitty Graduate]

Gosh, a lot of graduates coming up in the next week! Well done on a fab run. Only an hour more 'til you can get your hands on that shiny badge!

[poppypug Graduate]

Great going Simmypie !

Youve got this in the bag .

Onwards ! xxx

[Simmypie Graduate]

Thanks poppypug ! I never thought I would find running for even five minutes easy when I started at week one all those centuries ago!!

[Ellymeg Graduate]

Well done, nearly there. Great dog management! You are running to wards the finish line, soon be there. Yea!

[Simmypie Graduate]

Bah! My right knee has been aching for the last few days. I was going to go for a w9 r2 run today but I don't think it's worth taking any chances, even on my treadmill.

Cherie Pie and I are off on our hols to Krakow on Thursday and it would be stupid if I damaged something on a run so, sadly, I will have to leave my graduation until I get back home

I was thinking that maybe I need better running shoes; I've got some karrimor duma d30s at the moment, I bought them for my treadmill so they might not be good for outside even though I'm running on a field.

I might go to Up and Running in Manchester for a gait analysis to see if that helps any.

There's lots of conflicting info on the internet about what types of shoes to buy and whether the more expensive ones are actually worse for your feet that the cheap ones, whether barefoot type shoes are actually better than the more cushioned ones.

It's a bit confusing so we'll see.......

[Simmypie Graduate]

My knees are still aching unfortunately so I went to up and running to get some advice so I could buy the right kind of shoes and they weren't very helpful to say the least.

It was a struggle to get a gait analysis even though I offered to pay for it. The assistant was saying that no matter which shoes I bought he couldn't guarantee that any of them would be suitable for me!!!

I mentioned that I was doing c25k and had looked at lots of helpful advice on the forums, he hadn't heard of it and basically said that I shouldn't listen to anything the internet says.

They also had a very limited range of about twenty shoes and most of them were £90 to £115 so I went to Sports Direct looked at lots from £20 onwards and after asking for advice bought some for £70.

After looking on youtube I tried the water test where you wet your feet and then stand on cardboard or paper to see what type of arches you have, I found out that I have high arches and that the shoes I bought were for flat arches. Doh!

According to different websites I possibly under pronate, either need neutral or high arch shoes, possibly cushioned, no arch support, rigid, flexible, insoles are good or possibly bad(!) they all contradict each other.

Maybe I'm doing too much research, in the old days we just picked a pair that was comfortable as we didn't know any better...sigh!

[Ivawillow Graduate]

Yahhhh! Only 2 more to go! 👊🏼👊🏼 Take that gremlins ✨✨💫👟👟

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate]

Shame the running shop you went to weren't more helpful Simmypie.

I have Karrimore D30's which I bought whrn I started too. My arches are quite high, and I seem to be neutral as I've never had any problems with my knees.

Mine are quite worn now, so new shoes are on the horizon.

Have a great holiday, then get back to graduating when you get back. 😊

[Simmypie Graduate]

Thanks Bluebirdrunner . The staff at sports direct weren't that helpful either, the shoe specialist recommended neutral shoes for high arches, tried to push more karrimors on me and then left me to look at the whole wall full of shoes.

There were lots to choose from and in the end I was so confused I went for a pair of nike zoom winflow 3s which are meant to be neutral and cushioned. I will google them now to see if I've made another terrible mistake!

I asked about having half a size larger as recommended but was told that they would gradually stretch anyway and that too large would lead to problems. There's about a inch of space from my big toe to the end so hop flea it should be ok.

They feel comfortable to walk in but I will try not to run for a while (did I just say that?!) and hop flea the knee problem will go away. Bah!

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate]

Your holiday break, will be just what you need. Gives your knees a break. You will come back refreshed and rested... and raring to go. Don't worry about losing fitness, you will be just fine.😊