As a W9er it is very easy to become complacent about how far you have come and how it's nearly all over. But even in week 9 we are still learning.
Lesson #1 from this week, the importance of routine. Since week one, C25K has been all about routine, 7.30pm Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are run days. Now at crunch time, week 9, my work/life balance has been completely thrown into touch; late working, away trips, odd meal times and loads of driving has meant everything has gone to pot. So while R1 this week (early morning - cool with a nice breeze) was brilliant, R2 (mid-morning, very warm with no breeze), was nothing like it, laboured and very (very) slow. R3 will be late evening . . . . .not what you would call routine.
Lesson #2, ego can be your worst enemy. While you should be, rightly, very proud of what you have achieved, it is very easy to start to think "I've got this in the bag!". Everyday, every run is different, as I have set out in lesson #1. I went into today's session with all the expectations of it being the exact same as the previous run - why should it be any different? Well, the weather, tiredness, hydration and countless other factors contribute to make each run different. So treat every run as an individual run. Your last run should have no bearing on this run and this run will not dictate the next (unless you find yourself on the IC that is). Don't let your ego push you to injure yourself.