Oh wow, I don't know what to say!
I set out today with the mindset that this was it, today is graduation day. The sky is blue, sun is shining and it was warmer than I thought.
My first five minutes is always hard as my muscles are saying no, stop but then I get into a regular pace and am starting to feel comfortable. I ran my regular route by the local airport and so I made it to where I quite often see helicopters. There was a red one in the sky but none on the ground today. I went past where they land and carried on to where I've only recently discovered a path that bypasses the cattle grids and gates (previously I've been swinging myself one handed holding on to the gate around the edge of the cattle grid but know that was a recipe for disaster). I went up to where I normally turn around but decided to try and go that bit further to reach 5 km. I looped around the back of the car park (that's free so when flying to Jersey or the Isle of Man from here you can park the car up for free and is within a minutes walk from the terminal). I noticed the red helicopter in the air and possibly a small plane on the runway but really didn't want to get distracted.
Unfortunately I had gone out in a long sleeved top and a rain jacket to keep me warm but started to get way too hot around my nemesis time of 19 minutes or thereabouts. I had to stop and take it off as I really didn't want to faint, especially on graduation! A quick drink and off I went again having paused Laura for less than a minute. Immediately Laura said 20 minutes was gone and I have 10 left. I put my head down and carried on back from where I came from. A regular dog walker that I see on the route has a rather friendly dog that keeps wanting to play with me. This time it had a stick in its mouth and tried to take my knees out but I managed to get past and carried on.
I decided that as I have previously run 2.9 miles in 30 minutes I wanted to try for the extra distance to make it 5Km at 3.1 miles so when Laura told me time was up I carried on! It's on my way home anyway so I gritted my teeth and nearly got to the point where I thought 5km was but felt that was enough and stopped before I did myself any damage. Stopping Strava I found out I covered 3 miles in 33 minutes at a pace of 10:48 per mile, so I'm very happy with that thank you!
I'm now looking forward to hitting that 5km mark and then increasing my distance so I can run all the way around the airport without having to turnaround.
Thank you to everyone that has encouraged me on my journey. I have had quite an interesting time of it since starting the programme in June. Back then I managed 2 weeks before I crippled myself and ended up going to a physio for several expensive but worthwhile sessions. He recommended a foam roller and some exercises which I still do if I feel a niggle around the same area which prevents it from going any further. I had the summer off whilst my knee recovered and our holiday wasn't ruined. The children went back to school in September but the day before they went back my husband managed to slip off a ladder breaking his leg. I managed to start this programme again when he was at home recovering and I needed to get out the house for some much needed me time! I've had a few repeats along the way but can't believe that I'm capable of running 5km - wow!
This programme really does work!
Right, I'm off to get my badge now!
I'm right behind you and am so looking forward to graduating. Well done for pushing on through to 5k!
Run Graduate Run!! W9R3 done…….
W9R3 - I have done it !!!!!!!!!!!
W9R3 - Graduation run completed!
WoooHooo!! Graduation Run Done!!
W5R2 done - can't believe I've said that!
