Well that’s week 6 all ticked off and done. I was due to run run 3 yesterday but a) the weather was abysmal and I didn’t risk it and b) ( hangs head in shame) I didn’t wake up until gone 11.00am!!! I HAD 11 HOURS SLEEP!!! Unheard of for me.
I am a bit of an insomniac and am quite regularly online at 3.30-4.00am chatting to other idiots who are wired to be awake then. I blame a lot of it on my formative years working unsociable hours in various pubs and hotels...... and maybe a little bit on tearing up the town in unsociable hours too 😜🤫. But over the last couple of weeks I seem to have really got this sleeping lark cracked. My hibernation gene has come into its own and I have been regularly getting between 7 and 8 hours sleep a night... but 11!!! I amazed myself. And after that family turned up and the day ran away with me so, today, everyone back at work and I had set an alarm for 7.50, so I was up and in my gear and just about to go out the door when my eldest lad turned up in a flap. “ I’ve locked my van keys in the damned van, mum. Did I leave my spare key here?” Yes he had and I found it fairly quickly and off he went. Last week it was his car had broken down , just as I’d finished running. Cars are such a pain!!
So, back to my run, and again silly I know as I’ve done this a couple of times before, I was nervous about running 25 minutes continuously. It had been raining and the pavements were wet when I set off but it wasn’t raining now so I determined to just take it slow and easy and not think too much about it. Did my 5 mins brisk walk, pressed the button on my Garmin and off I went. First 5 minutes were ok, it was a little bit windy but not too bad, and quite soon Laura was telling me I’d done 5 mins and I thought I’ve only got to do that 4 more times. I thought I’d take a different route in and out of the little Estate just down the road from me, as my Tarka Trail route would be out in the open and more windy. So I meandered in and out of little cul de sacs and the next 5 mins went fairly quickly ... and then the rain started... just a little drizzle.... then a flipping downpour!! And then as Laura was telling me I was halfway it stopped again, once I was pretty wet. 😡and the sun came out!!! Dazzling me as of course I’d not taken shades with me!!
I crossed the road and set off up Abbey Road and through the little cut through I used to run through before, thinking to myself I wonder if I’m any faster now and if I’ll get a new PB. Then came out the other end and had just 5 mins back along Pottington Road towards home to finish. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and after a nice soak in a hot bath of Epsom salts and some stretches I feel good.
Bit annoyed though that again, my watch didn’t pick up the GPS signal, so I get no map and obviously don’t know if I would have had any PBS. My pace was quicker on this run than any of my previous ones so I probably would but hey it’s not the end of the world. Now I just need to figure out why it’s stopped picking it up.
And Week7 here I come. No dread now as I know I CAN run for 25 minutes straight - just need to repeat it 3 more times. I’m nearly back!!!!
Finally felt like a real runner
Actually feel like a runner 😊
I felt like a runner today
Starting to feel like a runner!
Actually feel like a runner
