Thanks for all the messages of support after my last posting where I was suddenly struggling in week 8. I tried a few different things you suggested – different route, going back to Laura, not paying attention to distance/pace and even imagining I was running along with Beckipeg and Runningmummy. I went out that night & did my 28mins without stopping, so was relieved thinking I’d broken through the mental block at last. But then the next 2 runs in wk 9 were a disaster. In w9#1 I stopped at 15min, walked until 25min & then ran the last 5min. In w9#2 I stopped & started again until I finally gave up at 18min & just walked home.
But then I decided to go back to the park where I’d started out to try again. It seemed like yesterday that I was struggling to do 60secs along one stretch of the path & yet I’d now moved on to different routes as felt I’d outgrown the park & was bored doing laps of it. It might sound strange but being there made me carry on when I got the urge to stop. I almost felt like I was letting the park down after all we’d been through (weird, I know! And yes I do think my teddy bears have feelings haha). And so I did my 30mins without stopping on my w9#3 attempt, yay! Last night I went back to the same park & did it again, double yay! That would have been w9#4, so I suppose technically I’ve graduated but I’m not going to claim my badge until I’ve done my 3rd consecutive non-stop 30mins in w9#5 (fingers crossed!). Obviously I’ll have to go back to the same park as we’ve obviously bonded ;D