W8R1 ... the Island Route, By the Canal ...

[Christene]

Decided that I would try an early morning run, and when I say early, I mean early for me ...

So far I have been running in the evenings, and when I checked the stats on my pedometer/fitbit, the other day, I had actually covered just short of 11km at the end of the day, so I'm thinking, do my run before I've put 5km of walking and stair climbing into them ...

So I was off, picked a spot to park my car ... 600m from the start of the run, a nice brisk warm up walk ... away I went ... got to the start a little bit early so took the opportunity to do a bit of stretching, and then I was away ... muttering to myself "slow and steady, slow and steady ..." yeah, like that worked, the first interval on MapmyRun I was running at 6:15/km, frightened myself to bits, what the heck was that about ... slow down, next segment was, 6:30/km, OMG, slow down ... 6:45/km, better ...

It was lovely to be running a different track, and despite it being by the side of the canal the scenery was really nice, especially in the sunlight we had today ... still a bit cool in the shadows though.

Well, 14 minutes soon came up, turn around time, which didn't look that elegant on the canal tow-path ... I was surprised by how much the path undulated, and had to be careful on the narrow sections, the path gets a bit rocky and the last thing I needed was to trip and my rubber legs ping me into the canal .... not waving ... drowning ... lol

Keep it going, slow and steady ...

Michael was spot on at 25 minutes when he said "you should be tired by now ... " how insightful of him ...luckily he didn't suggest upping the pace to the finish ... that would have been a no-no ... 28 minutes, time was up and I was about 150m from the start so I kept going for my own pride ....

Only two flights of steps to climb and then descend ... what possessed me to think that that would be OK after a 28 minute run ... I had visions of me collapsing halfway down the steps and hurtling towards the car-park .... no such event took place, I'm pleased to say .. and the cool down walk was perfectly timed to see me back at my car ...

A short drive home, a glass of juice, a cup of tea, and a shower and I'm feeling great ....

Week 8 ... 1 run down, 2 to go ....

[SaskAlliecat Graduate]

You're doing great! You'll be a graduate in no time, you are definitely on the home stretch now!

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Very well done..onward and upward

[AnnieW55]

Well done. It's amazing how many runs we thought were flat, especially when we've driven along them in the car, turn out to be undulating at best and quite hilly at worst 😀. (and I do know you weren't driving along the tow path)

[Fishypieface Graduate]

Well done! Almost there & you are doing amazingly well. Good luck with the next few runs

[Christene Graduate in reply to Fishypieface]

Thank you, the sub 7:00/km freaked me out a little but I’ve got used to it, must be my “natural rhythm”. Am pleased it’s rest day tomorrow though ... 🙄