W5R2 boxed off- in the park this time- very public!

[VeganNelly]

Our family have been doing our running along woodland pathways, but part of our family is away saving badgers (my turn again next week..) so I don't have the car to get to the woods, so the kids and I walked to the nearest park and did circuits of one of the open spaces.

The boys set off at their usual blistering pace and found it no problem to run 8 minutes at a time, tho they were asking if we were nearly at the end of the run once or twice as they don't listen to the podcasts.

My daughter did the first run ok, which was amazing considering she was considering giving up before W5R1 and also because she was running without the podcast as her MP3 was lost and the replacement one we managed to find had lost its charge and wouldn't work. I offered her mine but she wouldn't take it, then we tried running with an earpiece in each but it wasn't long enough so it was definitely a bit more difficult for her today. Early in the second run she asked me if she could stop and I said of course she could if she wanted to, but then she kept going and I took her hand and we ran holding hands for the whole rest of the run and she did brilliantly.

I was so proud of her but although she says she is proud of herself she then starts criticising herself for having wanted to stop and passes the credit on to me for encouraging her and urging her on, which I keep saying just isn't right- SHE is doing this, it's hER legs doing the running, it is hER that is digging deep and managing to finish it even tho she felt like stopping.

I reiterated after that she can stop if she wants to but she says she would like to have a go at W5R3 on Friday when our other runner will be back from the cull zones and we will all be together again.

I didn't find it especially easy but I enjoyed the flatness and short grass of the park as some of the woodland path we take is uphill which sometimes comes at the wrong moment, although there was less shade today which made us feel very hot.

[Hidden]

Well done on the run and for encouraging your daughter. What a great family bonding activity! I'm bummed, I'm down with a bad chest cold, so I'm not going to start week 5 until next week. I'm going to try and run week 4 again on Wed. And Friday, to see if my lungs are ready for Hell Week! Good luck on Run 3! I'll be rooting for you guys! 😊

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

That a shame for you mother_of_whippets that you have a chest cold, hope you get back to running soon. We were about the same stage last wk and I was keen to see how you were doing. Hope you manage a run tomorrow

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Jane! Yeah it sucks, it started on Friday. I ran that day but really struggled and I think it made my cold worse over the weekend. Finally feeling a bit better so I'm going to give it a go tomorrow. My husband is two runs behind me, so at least this way we'll graduate together. A bit of a silver lining. How are you getting on? xx

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hubby and I doing it together did W5 R2 today, I struggled with the 2nd 8 minute run but I did press on. Not at all sure how I will manage to do 20 minutes on Thursday morning. I have a history of not being able to run even at school and having a sort of mental block so am amazed with how fab this programme is and takes you along each step of the way. Will keep you posted how it goes, good luck tomorrow

[McFitty Graduate]

Now that's dedication, running in this heat. Fantastic that you can do it as a family and good on you for the way you're supporting your daughter. Onward to run 3

[Ullyrunner Graduate]

Well done all of you!

[Hidden]

So lovely that you are doing this as a family and you are able to encourage each other. I started this with my husband and we did W5 R2 this morning. Was hard but we pushed on, not sure how I feel about running 20 minutes 😞

[VeganNelly Graduate in reply to Hidden]

I think doing this as a family has really added so much to the experience; I would never have done this on my own as I only started because I joined in after my sister was already doing it- had had no thoughts of running before that!

We did the 20 minute run today and all found it went off painlessly- we couldn't really believe how well it went. Good luck to you and your husband.

[melly4012 Graduate]

It's so lovely hearing about you running as a family. You're all doing fabulously and how wonderful that you can keep each other going.

[VeganNelly Graduate in reply to melly4012]

Thank you I'm especially proud of my daughter who has really had to work hard to stick with this and has shown a lot of determination.