Wooo; 5K!

[mrqwest]

Well that was a surprise After Thursdays rough run (28 minutes, but had to stop twice and walk for a bit), I didn't hold out much hope for todays run which is W8R2.

My hip is still giving me pain, but bizarrely the pain dissapears when I'm running but my 5minute warm up walk was tough this morning as it's also uphill. But I started running none-the-less.

Took me a few minutes to get into my stride and for my body to stop panicing (it likes to do that at the start of each run) but I was off.

I got to the point in the run where my back really started hurting on my last run, fully expecting it to rear its head again this time, but it didn't which surprised me! Kept on running.

I started feeling tired, and then RunKeeper told me through my headphones that I'd hit 20 minutes. 20 minutes? oh maan, still a way to go.

Pushed on, and got to the 25minute mark, distance was at around 3.8km. Thought about stopping at this point as it was getting tough but decided against it. I'm on week 8 and should at least attempt 28 minutes. Besides, I only needed to run another 3 minutes to get to that point and most of my favourite music tracks are 5minutes +. So I carried on going. Got to 28 minutes and realised I still had a little energy so decided to run for 30 minutes, after all, that is only next week on the plan!

Got to 30 minutes under duress, checked my distance and I'd covered 4.6km. I wasn't going to run for 30 minutes and then miss my 5k target by 400m so I went for it (albeit up hill so not very quickly) but the elation I felt when RunKeeper announced I'd hit 5km in 32minutes 49s.

So so so happy, proud and almost tearful! To think 7 weeks ago, I couldn't even run for a minute. I struggled to run 200m, and now I'm doing 5km!

This forum & community (along with the plan) is absolutely fantastic. So much enthusiasm and motivation to help keep pushing everyone! I don't think I'd have managed it without reading the motivational stories on this forum!

Thank you all

A happy Anthony

[samjf25 Graduate]

Well done, that's fantastic! I agree about the forum, I've just done W7R3 and eveveryone's comments just spur me on!

[Minuette Graduate]

Brilliant! Well done Anthony

[Hidden]

So great to hear blogs like these, at the start you think is it really possible and blogs like this reinforce that yes it is. Thanks and well done

[BTX4 Graduate]

Well done...a great time for your first 5k too. I graduated some weeks ago and am nowhere near it yet....

[Hidden]

Superb! Well done you

[Moley01 Graduate]

Brilliant - well done!!

[pitzpalu Graduate]

Great blog, i can feel your elation

Well done and thanks for sharing.

[twinkle_toes Graduate]

Well done Anthony - hope you are grinning like the Cheshire cat!

It is so hard to describe the feeling to non-runners - they just look at you as if you are mad. It is so infectious though!

I ran my 4th run of week 8 this morning - love running in the rain. Decided to attempt my local park and the change in scenery was great but there were definately more inclines than my village - but hey i went round twice and then collapsed back into bed!

Graduation is so close for us - the excitement is almost palpable...

well done you

[mrqwest Graduate in reply to twinkle_toes]

Well done you too! I'm still grinning and still surprised that I done it myself, it is very infectious like you said!

Well done for your run in the rain! I too enjoy it although it's been quite dry recently when I've been out. My first few weeks were run in the wet though. I'm looking at switching up my route too, finding it quite difficult though living in a built up area.

How do you find running on grass as opposed to pavements? I find running on solid surfaces much easier than grass, so much so, on one particular road of my route, there are no pavements - just grass verges yet I run in the road as opposed to on the grass.

Any tips? As I'd love to hit the local park and run around that twice (it's where the local ParkRun is held too!).

[twinkle_toes Graduate]

My run in the park was on a track and not grass - the variable rocky terrain certainly keeps you on your toes! I have once ran around a field but found it really boring and my feet were soaking so went back to pavements around my village.

Keep up the good work!

Happy running

[Onyva Graduate]

Great post. Echo your feelings.