Wow... that 30 minute run last night was a BEAST. I decided to take a different course and ran up to the famous tourist spot Vondelpark here in Amsterdam. I always find my first KM tricky, but this one was really hard. I think maybe it was because of the heat or maybe because I had to constantly dodge tourists, but either way, I got there (and in fact, according to my watch, I did it at a 5'40" pace which is nearly a minute faster than my normal pace). Made it to the park and did almost a full lap of the park before breaking out and heading for home.
One thing I loved about this run was the number of other runners doing the same course... so many of them were going faster than me, but I took the opportunity to watch their form and see if I could learn a thing or two.
By this point, I was about 20 minutes into the run as I headed out of the park and I was absolutely dripping with sweat. Luckily, I spotted a water fountain so I stopped for about ten seconds, took a few sips and soaked my face to help me cool, then got back to it.
As usual, I kept running past the designated end time and managed to complete the full 5k in just over 32 minutes which was a new record for me!
I really want to hit 5km in 30 minutes but I don't think I'll get there before I graduate. Still - it'll give me something to work towards before I start pushing myself onwards to the 8k race I have booked for October!
2 more runs to go... graduation here I come! (I feel a couple of very early or very late runs coming up!)
keep at it 
Week 9 First Run
Week 9 Run 1
Week 6 run 1
