w9r3, my graduation, and other reminiscences :-)

[Antypode]

This morning I finished in shorts, t-shirt, and brand new running shoes what I started in February in tracky bottoms, a coat, a fleece beanie, and knackered trainers.

There's no way I'd've done it without my running mates - I'd've put off going for a run; I'd've stopped part way through a run when the going got tough. Having the others still going round the park motivated me to keep going.

Every one of Laura's announcements - "5 minutes gone", "half way", "5 minutes to go", etc etc - I couldn't believe there was still so much more to do. I'd never make it! I should stop now! But I kept going. For me, the ability to just-keep-plodding-on is at least as big an achievement as the fitness improvements.

The worst run of all was w8r1, which was 2 days after blood doning. I wouldn't recommend that! w8r2, 3 days later, was much better. On the other hand, Strava showed 4 PRs for that horrid run!

The small park where we did most of the running has a 250m inner loop, and a 550m outer loop (both rough measurements). I still remember the joy in week 2 when I could run a whole lap of the 250m path, and in week 4 when I could run a whole lap of the 550m. This morning I ran nearly 10 laps of the big one, which seems incredible to me

I suppose partly because I wasn't really convinced I'd keep going to the end, it was only yesterday that I bought some proper running shoes to replace the 20-year-old squash shoes I'd been wearing. They didn't make a massive difference on the park, but I expect they'd make road running - if I ever do any - more comfortable.

First parkrun next Saturday!

At the moment I'm not planning to extend the distance much beyond 5k - though maybe I'll 10k in the future. For now I'd most like to do the 5k faster. Our local parkrun has "pacer events" every couple of months, so I'm looking forward to those.

On the other hand, and I see on discussions here that I'm not alone in this, my enjoyment from running is being able to do it, and having done it - the actual doing it isn't fun for me!

[Blueberrydog Graduate]

Well done 🎉🎉🎉

[DiscoRunner Graduate]

Brilliant and huge congratulations to you on such an amazing milestone! 🏅🏆👏💪

Having embraced slow running, at the start this was because of a lack of alternatives 😬, I’ve kept running slowly (Japanese slow jogging technique) because I can actually enjoy the running itself. And I just read the myth busting post - saying if you want to run fast, run slowly!!

Enjoy your consolidation runs!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Many congratulations on your graduation fellow runner.

This guide to post C25K running may be helpful healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

Keep running, keep smiling.