Woohoo!

I've just run for 6K!

But golly it was hard tonight and those endorphins were hiding from me.

Dot and I went on a different, more public route for a change but it was a real struggle from start to finish with a highlight just before the first mile when I received a peptalk from Ali through Endomondo - it really made me smile, thanks Ali!

The route included a short but very steep incline which I am proud to say I managed to keep running up -  I was seriously out of breath at the top - but I was determined to keep on running.

As we approached home we were both very tempted to cut the run short (well, short-ish at about 37 minutes) but I really wanted to get past the 3.5 mile mark that I had set in the previous run and I was hoping to get past 6K too so we kept on going past our street until we finally stopped at 47.30 minutes and 3.74 miles (6.01K).  We were both beetroot red and totally exhausted but I'm really pleased with what we achieved :-)

Cracked 5k - and then some!

One week after graduating from C25K I have managed to crack 5k - but definitely NOT in 30 minutes - but speed isn't my focus, I'm more interested in being able to keep running.

I've discovered that once I get past the first 10-15 minutes of running along thinking "I can't possibly do this, what am doing this for.........." I actually get "used" to running and can carry on for much longer than I ever anticipated.

Yesterday Dot and I went out initially intending to run for 30 minutes but hoping to be able to push it to 40 to do the 5k that I'd just missed on Thursday, but we found we were able to run for nearly 44 minutes covering 3.55 miles - that's 5.7k (nearly 6k!!!) I included a sprint towards the end (well, I call it sprinting and it's one heck of a lot faster than my normal running) and could have probably carried on for longer if I'd tried.

I'm getting such a high from running - partly I expect from the endorphins but mostly I think from the sheer sense of pride and achievement! I really never thought I could do this but I can and it's great! It is so wonderful to feel good about myself for once

3 miles but not quite 5k

I've just been out for a very soggy run in the rain and pushed myself to keep going at the end to get to the magic 3 mile mark which I did in just under 38 minutes. I was so ecstatic, thinking I had cracked 5k but I've just checked and I only did 4.9k

Oh never mind! I still did THREE WHOLE MILES!!!! Woo hoo! I would have never believed it possible!

..................but does that mean I've got to run even further next time???

Running post C25K

I went out for my first run as a graduate from the C25K last night and it was my best run yet.

The first 10-15 minutes were tough but Dot and I went on a different route so it was more interesting than usual and we actually needed to keep running to get somewhere whereas normally we run up and down a farm track.

I had ditched Laura (sorry Laura, it was nothing personal, just your taste in music) and was listening to 101 Running Songs instead and that definitely kept me motivated and interested - I found the pace was easiest running to Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl!

After a while it just started to get easier and when Dot, as official time-keeper, told me there was only a minute left I decided to just keep on going to the end of the track.......... then along the road a bit........... then round a cul-de-sac............. then on to the next street............ and then to the end of it until we had run for 36 minutes covering 2.78 miles I was on a high and felt like I could have just kept on running - and I really wish I had!

I'm still feeling that high today and want to go out running again but the negative little devil on my shoulder keeps reminding me that even if the end of the run was good and fun and exhilarating I will still have that tough first half of the run to get through! Why can't it all be good - and easy too???

Failure and success

Oh I was so disappointed

I went out out for my final week 9 run yesterday morning full of enthusiasm and excited to be finally graduating and I just couldn't do it!

My daughter and I had waited for the rain to pass before we went out and set off dodging the puddles but even though I was going really slowly I couldn't breath properly.

I've never found it easy to breath right while running and when I went out with Mr Locket on Thursday he pointed out at the end when we were running together that I was breathing very shortly so I really tried today to breath deeply but it didn't work.

Endomondo told me I had run my first mile in 12.44 minutes, then Laura said I had done 15 minutes and then I just stopped running and started walking. I hadn't planned it but I couldn't go on. I can't believe that the first time I have failed at a run was on my final run before graduating! Maybe I've just been lucky so far and not had a really bad run before.

I have been trying to work out what went wrong and there are a couple of factors that were different from when I normally run: I tend to run in the evening and this time I went out in the morning which may have had an effect and then I hadn't had much to drink before I set out so maybe I was dehydrated. Or maybe it is because I ran further on Thursday (33 minutes) and then went to the gym for quite a tough (for me) session later that evening. My legs were really tired on Friday at work but it wasn't my legs that let me down  - more my body and my breathing.

 BUT....................

 This afternoon I went out again - even more determined than usual to get to the end and although it was tough and although there were times when I ran REALLY slowly, I did it.  I actually ran the 30 minutes and finished the programme!  Normally I try to run a bit further once Laura has said it is time to stop - on Monday I went for an extra 2.5 minutes and on Thursday an extra 3 but today I was quite happy just to stop the moment Laura said I could - especially as I had put a real spurt on for the last minute of running and was going surprisingly fast for me.

I didn't therefore run as far as I had on Thursday - only managing 2.30 miles compared to 2.66, and I ran a lot slower as well, but I don't care.  I'm just delighted that despite the fact that I have always been completely exercise-phobic I have actually stuck at a running programme for 9 weeks and seen it through to the end.  I can't run 5k in 30 minutes - and I may never be able to, but I CAN run for 30 minutes without stopping and just a few short weeks ago that was beyond my comprehension.

And what is even more astounding is that I actually ENJOY it!  Not always while I'm doing it, I have to confess, but sometimes I do and the sense of achievement and all those lovely endorphins afterwards leave me on a high!

Go me! :-)

A new toy

Mr Locket is going to get jealous as I have a new object for my affection.

After reading about "him" on posts on the C25K forum I set out to investigate Endomondo to see what he was all about.

I downloaded him on Sunday and gave him a test-walk and was impressed so on Monday Dot and I took him out for a proper test run - w9r1 - and it was great. The robotic voice told me when I had run a mile and how long it had taken me, then updated me after 2 miles.

Also, because Endo was marking the distance I was able to go on a completely different route from normal which was fun. We ran along the road for the early-not-too-visibly-exhausted bit then went up a farm track, across a deeply ridge-and-furrow field, across a few stiles, round the edge of another field, up another track and so on until we ended up on the farm track that we normally run up and down and because I knew it was measuring until I finished I actually ran for an extra 2.5 minutes after Laura had said to stop so that I could get to the end of the track - finishing at 2.47 miles, so just under 4k in 32.30 minutes. I was VERY happy!

Endo told me how fast I had run, what my average speed was, what my best speed was etc and when I got home and looked on the computer it showed a graph of the route below the map so I could actually see where on the route I ran faster/slower, uphill/downhill and so on. Brilliant!

I know I've only just started with Endomondo but I definitely recommend it - especially as you can set your privacy levels so other people can't see where you are actually running as it seems to be a bit risky to say "this is where I live, and this is my running route and this is how long I go out for and when etc" to the whole world - although some people do obviously.

Running Shopping

I very excitedly went to a running shop for gait analysis today. I was expecting to run on a treadmill and be filmed showing myself up in public but the assistant just looked at my bare feet and watched me walk and said I was a "neutral" then produced about 5 different pairs of running shoes in the price range we told him.

They were all really comfortable and it was difficult to choose between them. The assistant was very scathing about the shoes I'd been running in for the last 8 weeks "We'd NEVER sell a pair of shoes like THAT!" ;o)

In the end I went for some Mizuno Wave Riders that cost £60 and apparently have enough support and cushioning. I liked them because they were the most comfortable although there was another pair that had springier bottoms that I liked - I just didn't find the actual shoe as comfy.

While we were on our spending spree I bought myself a grown up running top and an armband to hold my phone so I can listen to Laura hands-free.

I gave all three new purchases a test-run this evening on w8r3 and the shoes were great, the top was great but the armband thingy fitted so snugly on my phone that it kept turning the volume off so that's been a waste of money :o(

The shoes were so good that I reckon I even ran an extra 30 seconds faster than my previous two runs - not a lot, I know, but I was still pleased! And I think my shins feel less sore than normal too which is great.

I'm definitely a little bit obsessed with running now which is quite funny as I'm still only a beginner! I've just ordered Running Made Easy from Amazon to feed my addiction ;o)

Week 6 run 3 done and dusted!

I had a great run on Sunday!

Those are words I NEVER thought I would hear myself say in a million years!

I wasn't confident going out - the increase to 25 minutes worried me especially as runs 1 and 2 were so much easier, and Dot couldn't come because she had just got back from an exhausting weekend training for her Duke of Edinburgh Award. But I pushed myself to go anyway.

And it was fairly easy! I'd been absolutely exhausted doing week 5 run 3 and really struggled with it but not this run, and when Laura said I could try to run a bit faster for the last minute I increased my pace and even ran for an extra minute just because I could!

I was still running very slowly for most of the run but I was reassured that I was actually going faster than I could walk when I caught up with and overtook someone walking ahead of me - that made me very proud!!

So tonight I will be going out for run 1 of week 7 and it will be my first time running in wet weather so I hope it doesn't put me off ;o)

Amended - I was going to go out last night but it was so cold and sleeting heavily so I decided to stay cosy inside instead.  Dot and I went out this evening instead and did the first run of week 7.  I speeded up for the last minute as Laura suggested and when she said to stop I decided to keep going to the end of the farm track we were running up.  Dot was measuring time and reckoned we did an extra 3 minutes!  I have just measured the distance on a clever website and we ran 2.1 miles.  That's a long way off the 3 miles the podcast reckons we can run in 30 minutes but I'm still very happy about it.