Monday 25 August 2014

C25K, a Runner’s World. Bringing things up to speed

I’d already done 2 weeks of the C25K before I had the bright idea that writing a blog would motivate me to keep going and might even inspire others to give it a whirl. 

I was going to write a slow burner giving a flavour of how I felt after each run and blog my progress.  I wanted to chart each run but after 8 runs on the plan I’m realising how much can be achieved quickly.  If I don’t bring the blog up to speed with where I’m at I'm going to forget as I feel completely different about running now than I did 2.5 weeks ago.  

Week 1, which already seems a long time ago, was revolutionary for me.   Running was novel.   If the truth be told I’d never run, I’d managed to avoid it at school, and did not believe that I could do it.  My thighs hurt.  My breath was jagged.  I learnt that my in the ear earphones were not fit for purpose.  Having to cope with them falling out whilst running and frantically scrabbling to get them back in for fear I’d miss Laura telling me to slow down was somewhat of an issue.  I was astonished at the number of runners that I encountered during 30 minutes.  By Day 3 of Week 1 I was beginning to feel like I was privy to the world’s best kept secret.  How had I not noticed all of these runners before?  I learnt the ‘runners’ nod’ and began to feel a lot less self-conscious in my running pants.    Mine are positively boring compared to some I have seen. 

Week 2 looked like a leap.  The increase from running 60 to 90 seconds seemed a big step up but I smashed it.  It didn’t hurt so much.  It helped that Laura talked to me a fair amount, giving me hints whilst I was running.  She chatted to me about my breathing.  How did she know that I was struggling with this?   Her tips gave me a focus and before I knew it the run was over and I was walking again.  As I’m running on pavements, I embraced the inevitable beeps.  I laughed with the chaps in their work van who wound their windows down and shouted, ‘Come on love, you can do it!’  The headphone situation had been fixed courtesy of Mr Running-on-Sunshine but now I was realising that my earphones falling out were the least of my worries.(.)(.) This possibly explains the beeps and shouts of ‘encouragement.’  Being school holidays and tag-teaming childcare with work there has been no chance to rectify this situation but it’s right up there on my list, along with new trainers to replace the aged Reeboks.    

So here I am in Week 3 already.  Now I’m running for 3 minutes at a time.   It is harder but I am sticking with the plan.  Today I ran the second run of the week in rain and into wind and it felt good.  I am thinking about what I’m eating.  I’m drinking more water.  I’m making healthier choices because I’m considering what will keep my body in better shape to get through the plan and … **whispers** … beyond.   I’m sleeping better.  My jeans are slightly looser and my thighs are less lumpy.  What a difference two and a half weeks has made. 

Another development of Week 3 was setting up this blog, opening a Twitter account and creating a Running on Sunshine Facebook page.  A copy of Runner’s World landed on the doormat on Saturday which was an unexpected surprise and has been devoured.   There is such a huge running community out there, it’s great to feel supported and part of it even though I’m new and what I have achieved so far is comparatively tiny.   

I’ve had some great motivational tweets.  One from @Rula10:  

@RunningonSun just read your blog, looking forward to hearing more about your running journey!! Just a warning - it can become addictive!

The warning is too late, but I’m glad!  

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