Consolidation week 2

[TortoiseRegretsHare]

I’ve done 4 runs this week and a leisurely bike ride today. It’s not: oh I must go for a run and get the next stage of C25K under my belt, or make sure I don’t lose what I’ve gained. Instead, I find myself thinking: I feel like I need to go for a run. Which to me is very strange, being someone who likes to lie on the sofa with a good book. But I need to work out how to run somewhere prettier, or at least more interesting. The parks near me are small and going round and round in laps that only last 5-6 minutes is going to get dull.

[Catwise Graduate]

I just finished W9R1 so I’m also looking ahead at how to make my route interesting for the time when I’m done with the program. I started out going from one park over a couple blocks to the dog park, around the dog park 3 times, then back home. I hated that, around and around the dog park was boring and I was so exhausted that I couldn’t remember whether I was on round 2 or 3 or what! I stretched out my running around the small parks, running alongside them rather than in or circling them. They are a couple blocks apart from each other so I make a huge square that takes me past and around the two different parks, and I added an “up to the corner, back down to this corner, then back up to that same corner” loop at the beginning and end of my route, which helped lengthen my route without going around and around the parks. I am planning to find other parks that have pretty trails or canals or whatever, to make my runs interesting, but I know that I can’t do that regularly because I will use that as an excuse for why I don’t have time to run, if I can’t just walk out my front door. I kind of like the familiarity of knowing that by the time I get around the dog park I’m half way done. New and unfamiliar places will add interest but add a measure of uncertainty about how far I should go before turning around or whether the loop designed into the park is long/short enough for me.

[grumpyoldgirl Graduate]

That made me smile, because I remember pacing my living room, thinking what's the matter with me? Oh, I need to go for a run, how strange! That was the first time I realised I'd become a runner, and now you are one too! 😁 Trying out new routes is fun, mostly, hope you find some good ones.