Today I set myself a target.
Having entered the Wickham Whistler, a multi-lap event where you run as many laps that you want, I set myself a target of 2 laps. Since January, the furthest I’ve run is 3.5 miles, and to meet a month target run of 26.2 I needed to do 5.9 miles. Each lap was 3.3 miles long.
I set myself a plan of running 3 mins and walking 1 min. I kept this up for the first 3 laps, even recognising that I was having a thoroughly good time. The only sign of being uncomfortable was towards the end of lap 3. I could have stopped there having done what I set out to do. But 4 laps would be a half marathon. Did I have enough in me to do the 4th lap?
I started on my timed intervals but suddenly I couldn’t keep going with it. It was like my legs said no more. I finished the lap walking it.
But I did a half marathon distance - double what I expected to do. I managed to stop my watch after three laps without thinking, and then restarted it for the final lap. This however had its benefits. I was able to note that it took me just over 2 hours to do 9.9 miles - just under the distance for the Great South Run, which I’m doing again in October.
As said before I have seen unexpected changes to my mindset since restarting running in January. I am definitely more positive, I am enjoying it and am willing to push myself further. I loved today’s event. Seeing friends I haven’t seen for a long time made all the difference to how I felt.
So, let’s check out the next On The Whistle event.....
Did I mention that I hurt now???
