Back in the groove...

So, despite it being over 20°C (in Scotland!?) and after Monday's over enthusiasm resulting in a short run, I set out at a slightly more tempered pace and, as a result, tonight's run was a new PB for 5k.

Granted, it's only the third time I've recorded running 5k non-stop (Saturday's parkrun recorded only 4.7k), but still, shaving over a minute off my previous PB needs some celebration^* I think...

Not sure how much I'm going to enjoy running in these warmer temperatures, but it's all part of the learning experience.

^*large glass of ice cold water and a long shower...

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So, this happened...

Back at the start of March, after an 8 month lay-off, I picked up where I left off on week 2 and restarted my Couch to 5k journey. I completed the plan on 7 May, running 5k in a time of 39:21. Today, just shy of 4 months later, I ran 10k non-stop for the first time in my life with a time of 1:19:36. It hadn't been my intention to run that far tonight; I wasn't due to make my first attempt at the distance until next week. Tonight I was aiming for 8.5-9k but it just felt right and I kept going and, well, the result is what it is... Feeling dead chuffed with my achievement, but I need to thank everyone on the forum for their encouragement and support at all points along this journey and (I'm sure) for the continued encouragement on what is still to come. I'm off to give my poor legs a well earned rub down...

1 Year, 1,001 Miles

I realise that there are still a few days left, and I need to squeeze in a 30 minute challenge run before the year is out, so my total will probably edge up a little further, but yesterday I hit the 1,000 mile mark for running in 2020. It has, for all of us, been a very different year from the one we were probably looking forward to at this point last year. For me, I suspect running is one of the things that has helped most in getting me through it. Back at the start of 2020, I set myself some goals: See how much lower I could take my 5k PB below 28:38 Get my 10k PB below one hour from 1:03:49 Get my 10 mile PB below 1:45:00 from 1:49:29 Get my Half Marathon PB below 2:30:00 from 2:30:23 Complete the equivalent of John o' Groats to Land's End (874 miles) by the end of the year. As the year passed, my runs increased in length and duration, and I ticked the goals off one by one so that they now stand at: 5k - 26:36 10k - 58:19 10 miles - 1:34:29 HM - 2:05:46 John o' Groats -

The lockdown runner

Back in March last year, when parkruns got cancelled and lock down started, I was a year on from starting C25K and my average distance per run was around 8.75k. Skip forward to today and my average over May, June and July (so far) is now about 12.5k/run. It has, in fact, now been over 6 months since any run has been under 10k. I don't say the above to brag, simply a recognition of the fact that for someone who just wanted to keep his fitness up between rugby seasons so that I didn't dread August rolling around each year on account of increasing age and it getting harder to pick up again each season, I really am amazed at how far (literally and figuratively) I've come since deciding to give Couch to 5K a try back in March 2019. I have had the good fortune to be active and have a reasonable degree of fitness all my life, but it's fair to say that now, in my 50s, I'm probably in the best physical shape I've been in my entire adult life, and it's all down to me

Finding My Inner Runner

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