Consolidation 6 - hardest run yet!

[Spottymug]

Really could not get into the run this morning. I was halfway up my hated hill and as soon as Coach Bennett (Nike app) said I’d reached 20 minutes I just stopped. It’s the first time the hill has defeated me! Stopped the app, walked to the top then carried on. Managed to complete the 5k in my normal 34 minutes but walking the few minutes in the middle meant I had to run the even steeper hill at the end of my run (the one I normally get to walk up instead!) so kind of shot myself in the foot there! Not sure if it was down to the air being so muggy, not having the best nights sleep or the fact that the huge thunder storm last night left a lot of mud and silt all over the paths, but it’s the first time I’ve had to stop during a run since having to repeat week 2 right back in the very beginning. Happy that I still covered the 5k even if I did have to stop but annoyed that it’s not getting much easier. Absolutely loved weeks 8 and 9 and always felt amazing and was hoping the few extra minutes tagged on the end to make 5k wouldn’t feel much different. However, I still did it, gave myself a kick and carried on so taking it as a positive. Absolutely determined to not let that hill beat me again!

Good luck to everybody working through the programme. Never considered myself a runner before this and it was such a high to realise I could actually do it. You can all absolutely do it 😀

[linda9389 Graduate]

That's a long list of things that will very definitely have made this run harder! Some runs just are hard - sometimes for obvious reasons, but sometimes for no apparent reason. The key thing is that you carried on. You didn't give up til you bagged another 5k. That's a real achievement. I find my running develops in fits and starts, at times I feel like I'm going backwards ... but then there'll be another chink of light round the corner and it's all optimism again 😀. Just remember how far you've come and celebrate the achievement of yet another 5k - nasty weather, mud, hills and all 💪👍