First Run of 2013

Not only was this my first run of 2013 in fact it was the first run outdoors for a considerable time! Quite possibly I haven't been for jog in the fresh air since I retired from rugby in the late 1990s...

Undaunted by the fact it started snowing again and the roads looked slippery and it was rather cold I donned my running gear and took to the road:

You can just about see the polystyrene looking snow at my feet. My neighbour was quite concerned about me but I promised to take good care of myself. I switched on the NHS Couch to 5K podcast, activated Endomondo on my phone and set off at a brisk walk round the estate. 

Just towards the end of my warm up walk I realised Endomondo had been paused so I managed to get it going. The podcasts are designed for real novices so week 1 had me doing 60 second runs interlaced with 90 second brisk walks. There was music to help you keep up the pace and a lady telling you when to change from one speed to the other.

After a while I found the estate too slippery so headed down the hill towards town as the pavement was clearer. On the way I met our local postman and he suggested heading round the back of Kentrigg so I turned round and ran back up the hill.... It was interesting going down little roads and paths I'd never discovered before.

Then I ran out of route so went back on to my estate and tried a few of the little streets and pathways out of the way. They turned out to be a little too slippery still so I returned to the main road through the estate which had mostly cleared due to traffic. For my cool down 5 minute brisk walk I had to wander up and down my own road (hope not too many people were watching!). 

When I got home after 30 minutes outside I had a nice rosy glow to my face and felt like I'd tried hard but wasn't too shattered. I was disappointed that the Endomondo app hadn't plotted at least half of my route as it must have lost the GPS round the back of Kentrigg. 

I have been warned that even though I found this first run pretty straightforward I may not be feeling that way tomorrow when my body complains about running on roads... If it aches a lot then I will repeat this level of workout just maybe on a better stretch of path/road. If I don't feel too bad then I will try the week 2 podcast which has longer running intervals on it. 

Wait and see how long it takes me to get up to running 5k...