W8R1: On holiday in Costa Rica with my family. Running on the roads here is way too dangerous .. potholes and drivers combine for an experience I don't really need to have. So I go to the hotel gym the first morning and manage a run of 28 minutes on the treadmill. It is humid, though, so harder work than usual! My daughter runs on the treadmill next to mine and does 30 minutes.
W8R2: After a few days at the beach where it is far too hot to run I return to the hotel gym and do another run of 28 minutes. Earlier in the morning, and not quite as humid, but still hard work!
W8R3: Another 28 minute run in the gym … by now the others have given up in favour of holiday lie-ins, so this is my chance to catch them up in the programme.
W9R1: In Florida visiting friends, and I go for an early morning jog in the streets around their house. It is quite cool in the wake of Hurricane Sandy so it is a relatively easy run and I actually do the full 30 minutes without too much of an issue, though I can really feel the concrete surface is hard under my feet!
W9R2: A bit rushed this morning as we are leaving, but I do 25 minutes. Will have to repeat this run back home. Nevertheless the end is in sight and I know I can go for 30 minutes a steady pace of about 8-9 mins per km. Now to decide what next: aim for 10k, try to do 5k in 30 minutes?
I have bough c25k t-shirts for my colleagues who are also in the programme. I will see them at meetings next week and we will have a celebration together. And next weekend I expect we will do a family "graduation run" back at home. What a difference a couple of months makes!