As those poor souls who read my blog entry two days ago may have realised, I was not happy with my third run of week 8. In fact, week 8 and I never really got on at all. On the pleasure-pain spectrum, week 8 was definitely in the latter camp, while I'm firmly rooted in the former."No pain, no gain" is NOT my motto!
I was feeling really downhearted after "finishing" week 8. With next week looking like a complete write-off as far as running is concerned, I was mulling over what to do when I get back home and can start running again. Continue onto week 9, come what may? Repeat week 8 - not a prospect I relished. Go back to week 6, the last point at which I felt reasonably confident and comfortable with my runs?
Then I woke up this morning and really did feel like going for a run. With my confidence at low ebb after week 8, I thought I'd go back to w6r2 which is still on my mp3 player. Just a gentle little jog to enjoy myself. But once I had my running gear on and the dogs harnessed up, I thought "Stuff it, I'm going to do another week 8 run!". So off we went, not only to beat week 8 into submission, but to do so on one of the hilliest routes I know, which to date I've avoided like the plague.
Actually, I'd forgotten just how hilly it was, but by the time I remembered, it was too late to change my mind. And we did it, the doggies and I! OK, I very much doubt we covered anything like 5k in distance, and there were times when the dogs were walking rather than trotting while I puffed my way up the steeper sections, but WE DID IT and I ENJOYED IT. I still don't know how I battled my way up that final hill against a strong headwind, and it sure can't have been a pretty sight, but this was the run that I missed out on in the "official" week 8, the one that gives you that real buzz.
I'm now determined to take my running gear with me on my trip abroad, and try to do at least one or two of the week 9 runs there. Belgium's pretty flat, right?