Running!

Murphy is a biatch!  I wrote last about starting week 4 of my running programme and how chuffed I was with completing the first run of the week.  Well as Murphy would have it, I completed Week 4, excited to move on to Week 5 of the 8-Week programme and then the very next day after I did my last Week 4 run I got sick with a terrible, terrible bug that kept me ill and in pain for 8 days.

With that, Easter weekend and my boy who is at home with the school holidays I did not get to run for a full 12 days and I started back today.  I did not want to run, I was lazy this morning, my body is still run down and tired after being sick, and my little girl is not herself and sleeping poorly as well. Plus I was scared to see how much progress I lost in the almost 2-weeks.  Somehow I motivated myself... they say after all the hardest part of the run is the first few steps out of the house... So I decided to do a Week 4 run again.  I am happy to report that I managed that easily!  But I think I will do another Week 4 run tomorrow to be on the safe side and then move on to Week 5's runs a bit later this week.

A few things I have learned about running and myself this past few weeks:

• I am really enjoying it. Who would have thought...
• Running with music in my ears is the only way to go.
• I need a programme to help push me further.  I realize now how much time I have wasted December to mid February by trying to run on my own, because if my legs/brain says I'm tired I stop running, but with the programme I run when it says run and I walk when they say walk and they challenge me each time to do better.
• I can not work on endurance and speed at the same time... hence I am only working on endurance for the moment... so snail pace it is!
• I need to get out of my own head when running... I need to let my thoughts wander and not think about me running. I just need to put one foot in front of the other automatically and let my mind go. Hence the music helping.
• It really, really helps me to lose weight!

A dear friend invited me to do a 5km race with her in a month's time and I accepted and immediately signed up and paid for it.  If all goes well (and let's face it life likes to throw lemons) I will be able to complete my C25k programme by then and I am hoping I will be able to run most of it, although I think it's going to be slow and hard.  I am so looking forward to it though!