What just happened?

Well, it would seem that I've only gone and crossed another bridge; this time taking me to half-marathon distance.

It wasn't really my plan to run this far when I set out after work this evening, but the conditions were pretty much perfect; dry and not a breath of wind (it was -2°C, but we can't have everything), and my legs were up for the challenge.

I had been generally aiming to complete another 10 mile run, but when I got to that mark I found I still had some running left in my legs, so I carried on. 38+ minutes later, I'd added the extra 5k that I needed to clock up the half marathon distance and I'd completed it in a few seconds over 2 hours 48. It's not the fastest time in the world by any means, but that doesn't matter at all. I've hit a distance that until recently was well beyond what I could possibly ever have imagined myself achieving and I won't lie when I say I'm feeling pretty impressed with what I've done.

I'm not planning repeating it anytime soon, and it confirmed that I have no desire to go any further but I've done it, and I'm going to enjoy the achievement (although tomorrow I may regret it...)

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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...

One run, two more PBs

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Two years ago, having finally shaken of the tendonitis that had put paid to my first attempt at the Couch to 5k plan, I finally put all the excuses behind me, laced up my shoes that had been gathering dust since I unboxed them at Christmas, and started my running journey in earnest. There were a couple of "training runs" along the way, but I completed the programme in May 2019 and quickly moved on to JuJu's 10k plan which got me to 10k on 1 July that year. Before 2019 was finished, I'd get to 10 miles in October and my first HM in November and, by the time the bells rang in 2020, I'd clocked up over 500 miles. Then, 2020... Well, actually, from a running perspective, it turned out better than anticipated. Yes, OK, so the final parkrun was a year ago this weekend just past, and all the organised events I'd entered were cancelled or postponed until some indeterminate point in the future, but running, it seemed, was an escape and helped my cope with the whole...

Finding My Inner Runner

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