It's gonna be a lovely day...

[Purple_faced_woman]

Fantastic autumnal morning - blue skies, bright sunlight, slight bite to the wind, gorgeous colours in the trees (see photo).

I set off for my 5 minutes warm up walk on my usual circuit, but as often happens to me had to dash back to the carpark to use the loo. This time I decided to try something new, and set off walking in the opposite direction from my usual one and then back to the carpark for my warm-up walk. This meant that I started running *from* the carpark instead of 5 minutes down the road giving me a very firm destination for finishing my run.

I listened to Laura as per usual for the 30 minutes run and then ran for the 5 minutes cooldown, checked my phone for the time and then kept on going until I reach the carpark. I seemed to be crawling along for that last section, mostly because when I got to 35 minutes my lungs were making a distressing whistling sound which was fixed by slowing down. I amazed myself by keeping on running and completed my full run in 45 minutes. I was delighted as the circuit of the lakes that I do is a full 5km.

This is my first 5km run. I am very pleased with myself. Since graduating a month ago I felt that I had not been improving, and most runs seemed to be a real struggle, but it seems that my body was sneakily improving behind my back and just needed the right incentive ("run to the car and drive away from all this exercise NOW") to manage a 5km run. A boost for all of you who seem to think you are stuck in a rut and not getting anywhere, I hope!

[poppypug Graduate]

..... A Lovely Dayyyyyyyyyy !

What a beautiful pic and looks a perfect place to run.

Well done Purple , a fantastic achievement. Persistance always pays xxx

[dagshar Graduate]

Well done! Looks like a lovely route, especially on such a nice day. Sunny here too, but rest day for me.

[hilbean Graduate]

Aw well done! What a lovely post and sounds like you had a lovely run too (barring the whistling lungs!)

[AvatheGardener Graduate]

Beautiful day- and well done! Sounds as though you got this figured out, and how encouraging that you have improved despite not thinking so before this run- lovely feeling I'm sure

[laurav33 Graduate]

Well done! Fantastic. And what a lovely photo, must have been a fabulous run.

[Curlygurly2 Graduate]

That's great, congratulations on your first 5K. Here's to many more in the wonderful autumn light x

[Hidden]

Oooh, Autumn's come early to your neck of the woods. We still have green leaves here! Lovely picture, perfect running conditions

Really pleased for you on your first 5k, hope you feel suitably proud of yourself.

[vixiej Graduate]

that looks/sounds like a fab place to run, well done on your first 5k!

[Ullyrunner Graduate]

Well done! First 5K on a lovely day!

[Purple_faced_woman Graduate]

Thanks, everyone for your kind replies - took me a little while as I've been at an SF convention in Bristol over the last couple of days and didn't bring my laptop. Happy running.