… said Jess, never ever ever before about running but it is true. I did enjoy our run this afternoon. We are in week 6 of a Jeff Galloway 10km programme. Week 6 was to start on Tuesday but that didn’t happen. As I woke up this morning after a night interrupted by the kitten and having had a few glasses of wine at an evening out with work I wasn’t entirely convinced that week 6 was going to start today, or that it would start on a positive note. I was no more convinced at 3pm when Kath suggested we might get ourselves organised and go for a run. But I went and got changed (ahem, well, dressed really – the benefits(?) of working at home). We walked to feed our sheep (if you’re interested in them check our riddlesdenjacobs.com) and then set off from there. We ran up  the little path into the wood and then down Riddlesden golf course and then along the canal. It was a 30 minute run and we stuck to our interval pattern of 1 minute run, 30 seconds walk.

The first two runs were on the path leading into the wood and it’s uphill. Not steep, just a steady little pull. I was puffing a bit  (alright alright –  a lot) but as we levelled off I felt fine. The downhill was quite fun and by the time we got onto the canal I realised that I was actually looking around. I saw the 11 ducklings, the shy little moorhen, a little bluetit fluffed up on a branch… I was running and noticing things around me!

I had a vague sense that we were pushing the pace a little more than we had previously but I really wasn’t sure and because we hadn’t started from home I didn’t have my usual markers on that route to tell me if I was slower of faster than I had been before.

We did 2.29 miles – so we had gone faster than previously. But much more importantly, it was a really positive run with a strong finish which we both enjoyed. That is a huge step in the right direction and one to file away safely in the memory bank. I’m almost looking forward to the next run! Almost.

We have just finished week 5 of our training programme. Week 5 finished with a 3 mile run. I hated every step of it. But let’s go back a bit. There were  a few weeks of trying out some other programmes and getting to where we were running 8 minutes and walking 2 and doing 3 times or something. I was miserable. Then we moved to the new training programme. For the first 3 weeks we stuck to 30 seconds/30 seconds run/walk and I was quite enjoying myself. For the last two weeks we’ve been running 1 minute and walking 30 seconds. I’ve found this harder but still much better than before.

I’ll post updates as we go  – basically you can expect 2 30 mimute runs during the week and then either a timed or distance run at the weekend. As I mentioned, today’s run was 3 miles. We ran it on the flat along the canal from our house towards Bingley and we turned round at half way. I don’t know why I hated this one.

Every step seemed like an effort, every step seemed pointless because let’s be honest here, chances of me making it round a marathon are slim at best. But looking back over the run now I have noticed a couple of things: I recovered quickly and well. By the time we got home I was ok, physically and mentally. I am not sore or achey or even particualrly tired from that run. It also occurs to me that while I hated every step, I took every step including running the last 2.5 minutes ignoring the walk break.

So, 3 miles and just under 42 hideous minutes but a pace of under 14 minutes per mile which is well within the pacing requirement of the runDisney events.