Finding My Inner Runner

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...

. On 1 July 2019, I ran my  first ever non-stop 10k . I qualify the "non-stop" bit because several weeks earlier, before I'd even completed Couch to 5k, I'd covered just over 10k  refereeing a rugby 7s tournament . It was stop start, spread over six 14 minute games, but I still include it in my distance totals. Anyway, I digress; 1 July was the day I completed  Ju Ju's Magic 10k Plan  over on  Health Unlocked's Bridge to 10k Forum , so that's the day I'm counting. The time that evening was 1:19:36. Tonight, one year on and not including the rugby tournament mentioned above, I completed my 58 th run of 10k or more. When you consider the that 4 of those 58 runs were half-marathon distance, I've actually completed the 10k distance 62 times in the last 12 months. Tonight's time was 1:04:51, which is a bit off my PB of 58:58, but that wasn't what I was aiming for tonight given the conditions underfoot following several days of rainfall incl...

Following my last run , I had 9 miles left to run to reach the 75 mile target I set myself for #MilesForMind . Tonight, I crossed off another 7 miles leaving me only 2 left to do. Tonight's run followed the route that I'd originally planned to do as my last run, but the high winds that I found myself running head first into on Friday evening necessitated a change of plan. The weather this evening was much more clement and what wind there was served to stop it from becoming uncomfortably warm, which made things that much easier. My pace was fairly relaxed as my hip, it seems, still isn't 100%. The result is I'm going to give myself an extra day off before attempting to close out my 75 mile target on Friday evening; a run that I suspect will be the final outing for my trusty Brooks Ghost 12s as, after 730 km+, they are beginning to show definite signs that they need to be retired. The end is very definitely in sight, and I'm going to get myself over that virtu...

Being able to run for 30 minutes is a huge achievement. Being able to run 5k is another huge achievement. Being able to run 5k in 30 minutes, well, I'm sure that will be a massive achievement too, if I ever get there. Last night, in a few seconds shy of 80 minutes, I ran 10k. For me, that was a truly massive achievement. I can't take running 30 minutes or running 5k away from what I've achieved over the past 4 months, but while I was doing C25K, I always felt like a bit of an imposter. So many of the people on the programme have either never ran, or haven't done so for many years, and they were getting out and going for it. Me? Well, as a referee, I've been running for many years. Yes, it's only been short dashes of up to 100m, but it means I have a certain amount of experience of running in my legs, and an "above the couch" level of fitness. Does that detract from what I achieved in completing the programme? No, it doesn't. But for those...

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...

Perspective is important, but it can knock the wind out of your sails sometimes. Last night's run was a fairly gentle 5k involving two laps following a path out to the end of my village, a country path along the perimeter to the other end of the village, and then back to the start. I've done it many times and, it's kind of my "comfort" run when I'm not really feeling it, because it has about half a dozen exit points where if it's not happening I can tell myself "just to the next branch and see how I feel..." It was was an invaluable trick during the early weeks of C25K and I still use it (although I seldom use the exits) from time to time. Anyway, I am aware that there is a fairly gentle, but constant climb out of the village and along the old railway track followed by an equal downhill stretch back to the starting point. On completion, I looked at the elevation profile on the Garmin app on my phone, and was presented with the top chart. ...

So, I did it. One 5.37k lap of Arthur's Seat in 38:29. The 5k bit was 36:17. The conditions were idea, the participants (all 2,500+) we're amazing and the support at the finish from the well wishers and early finishers was brilliant. It was never going to be my fastest time given an ascent of 89m for the first half of the run, but I'm still chuffed to have done it and for the money raised so far. The climb up Queen's Drive to the top road was definitely a shock to the system. I knew it would be tough, but I hadn't appreciated just how tough it would be. Once on the top road, it was fantastic to see the city stretch out before me and the second half of the run was a much easier downhill all the way to the finish line. This was the goal I'd set myself after completing Couch to 5k and I'm so happy to have managed something that I couldn't even have contemplated doing at the start of this year.  If I'm feeling brave, I might try the 10k version...

It's just possible that things are beginning to get out of hand. Back in early March, after having to put the programme on hold for 8 months, I picked up where I'd previously got to, and restarted week 2. My intention had always been to get to running non-stop for 40 minutes (the equivalent of one half of a game of rugby) Tonight, just over 3 months later, I ran non-stop for a full hour and covered 8k... Because of my refereeing, I'd always been fortunate to have a reasonable background level of fitness, but seriously, what is happening to me?

After the cluster-burach that was last week's run where I went off way too fast and bombed out just shy of 2km, this week I managed to keep things together, run much more sensibly, and still achieve a new PB. All in all, a good start to the weekend...

OK, I know the "F" word is strictly verbotten, but there is no other word that can be used to describe the first bit of this morning (and I'm actually thinking of a word much stronger than "failure" here, but I digress). I wasn't really in the right frame of mind but headed off to one of to Meadowmill parkrun anyway, thinking it might help me re-calibrate. Unfortunately, it only managed to make things worse. I basically got everything wrong. I allowed myself to get caught up in the surge of faster runners at the start and the inevitable happened... Yes, so I got PBs for 400m, 1km, ½ mile and 1 mile, so that's kind of great in a way, but I bombed out at just over 1.9km; nothing left in the tank; all gone. The most annoying thing is that I knew I was too fast but it was just one of those ones where, try as hard as I could, I just couldn't reset my pace; no matter no consciously I slowed myself down, unconsciously, I kept speeding back up. I ...

A year ago (or even a couple of months ago if I'm being completely honest) I didn't even know that #GlobalRunningDay was a thing. Now, here I am, having run 5k and being awarded with a very nice badge from Garmin for my efforts. Not only that, in doing so, I knocked another chunk off my 5k PB, bringing it down to 34:20, so that's not too shabby either. I'm now away down to the big smoke with work for a couple of days so next run won't be until Saturday at the earliest, but I'm not going to complain; an extra rest day certainly won't hurt me.

I can't quite believe that it's June already. Today, I decided to indulge in a little parkrun tourism and headed to Meadowmill ; although I suspect it doesn't really count when the run you attend is almost exactly the same distance from your front door as the one that you have arbitrarily decided is your home event, but that's a minor technicality. Both Vogrie and Meadowmill are about 10 minutes drive from my front door; it's simply a matter of choosing to turn left or right when I get to the end of my road.  Today, I turned right... Meadowmill isn't as scenic as Vogrie, but it is flatter (although with two short but fairly sharp climbing sections that have to be done twice on account of it being two laps. My time was a health 33:02, so no complaints on that front and I was the 59 th finisher out of a field of 81, which was also quite reassuring. The coffee and the cake in the cafe afterwards were also very welcome and definitely hit the spot...

When you discover you've just run a sub 45 minute 6k... Saturday's parkrun hiccup seems to have had no lasting ill effects... It was a bit damp out, but that still didn't stop me from completing my furthest run to date. The time was really just the icing on the cake; not that long ago I wouldn't even have been able to imagine running that distance or for that long. I still can't quite believe that not only am I doing this, but that I'm actually enjoying it too.

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...

I got a little overenthusiastic on today's run. Went off way too fast and bombed out at 20 minutes. I did manage 3k in that time, which I can't really complain about but, on reflection, a slightly slower pace would have been a better approach; especially given it was warmer than I'm used to running in. Ah well, lesson learned; we'll just call that one this week's short run, shall we? Hopefully I'll manage a more measured approach for my next one...

So, having signed up for the Edinburgh Race for Life on 23 June, today I did my first ever parkrun at Vogrie in Midlothian. I was a little apprehensive as all of my running to date has been done on my own, out of sight of the general public. Having looked at the results page for the event, if I got round in anything like the 39 minutes of my two 5k runs so far, I'd be comfortably somewhere in the middle of the field. As tends to happen to me, while waiting for the first-timer's briefing, I bump into someone I knew at university (which means we hadn't seen each other in over 25 years). The hardest thing, was not getting caught up in the crowd and going too fast, but I found my comfortable pace eventually. Towards the end of the first circuit, I did get lapped by a couple of the fastest runners on the day, but I didn't worry about that. The second circuit was slightly slower than the first, but I had no complaints and I was definitely happy when I received m...

So tonight I completed , my first post-Couch to 5k run . I was meant to be taking it easy and didn't actually have a distance or time target but it just felt good, so with my faithful playlist ringing in my ears, I kept going and completed my second 5k. My pace exactly the same as my graduation run , so I'm nothing if not consistent, and it proves that my first 5k wasn't a fluke. By some odd coincidence, despite totally different routes, both runs started in the same place and finished pretty much in the sense place. Guess when the time comes to try pushing up to 10k, I know precisely the route to follow... So now, I guess, having successfully run 5k twice, there's really no excuse for me to not make my parkrun debut on Saturday...