W1R2 hello right hip/butt, hello left knee, hello FOOD!

[ktsok]

It wasn’t easy, but there were a few moments of enjoying the view and the fresh air. Running towards the sun coming up through trees with startled sheep was nice. I tried to slow it down, which felt a bit artificial. Sustaining a conversation would have been a tad ambitious so maybe I’m still going too fast - or my lungs are just rubbish from years of smoking. Various body parts waved hello but didn’t stay, which was a relief.

I’d love to get to a zen point where the act of putting on shoes and just going running is sufficient, but at the beginning of this journey, I need bite-sized motivators, so I’m properly fitted out with Fitbit, Nike Running App and C25k of course. Lots of info to bask in 😂 I was averaging 7’58” over the full 30 minutes of walking and running, covering 3.76km. It felt brisk.

And oh my, was I hungry after the run?! Honestly, I could have dived headfirst into my bowl of muesli!

Thanks for all the encouragement guys! I’m really enjoying reading your posts 🙂

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Forget speed.. forget distance at this early stage... relax... and just do the runs.. for pure enjoyment and because you can...You have along way to go...it is a great journey..so chill and celebrate it...

Huge well done...! Crawl is a great stroke for 'cereal' swimmers...

[ktsok Graduate in reply to Oldfloss]

Haha! I did manage to pace my cereal lol. Yes, all the data is just about giving myself a pat on the back and curiousity, I don’t intend to try to ‘beat’ any times or distances!

Yet 😜

[Hidden]

Well done indeed. The zen moments will come with time and as you relax into the running process. Enjoy your achievements

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Good job. Slow is great once you find that nice low gear, and those are the runs I really love... 2 minutes a mile down on my tempo pace and I don’t get out or breath, hardly break sweat over 5k and smile the whole way. I didn’t think in week one that that was ever gonna happen, but it does, and you will feel that too. For now, it can be a struggle and it’s not so exciting lacing the shoes, but your fitness will rise fast... I was a 40 a day smoker, cut to 20 for a week and put my last cigarette out the night before my first run... 35 years of heavy smoking didn’t get in the way of that fitness. I love the Nike app, and use it all the time, but don’t worry about any of the stats right now, don’t even look at them, you can have a look in a few months and laugh!

Enjoy the next one.

[ktsok Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Wow, just read this old post (thinking about my graduation speech 😉) and you are spot on UNM: “2 minutes a mile down on my tempo pace... and I don’t get out of breath... and smile the whole way”. That’s it exactly! I’m chuckling already. It only took 8 weeks to find the slow gear 🥵🤯😳🥵😫🙄🤪🐌🤗

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to ktsok]

Slow is great... I do enjoy pushing myself every 6-8 runs, but I love the slow ones so much more! I think when a lot of us start, because we are so badly out of shape, we have 2 speeds... flat out and slow, but even the slow can be hard to get comfortable, it can be a struggle to the end of the run... but then the slow gets faster, and we can rediscover the same pace as an “easy” gear. I always say if running was easy we’d be hit by a stampede of runners every time we stepped onto a pavement... but it can become easy.

[ktsok Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

I sincerely hope to be looking at this post a few months from now and thinking (again) how wise your words are, after a run where my old ‘fast’ pace feels like an ‘easy gear’! Thank you Guru UNM! 🤗

[grumpyoldgirl Graduate]

It can be hard to go slow when you're stopping and starting. Maybe think about shorter strides rather than going slower, and see if that helps. It does get better, otherwise we wouldn't all still be here! 😊

[ktsok Graduate in reply to grumpyoldgirl]

I’ll give it a go for run 3 tomorrow, thanks 🙂