running in the real world.

you know what? all my slightly bizarre freaking out about running on, you know, a road instead of a treadmill were totally unfounded.

saturday morning, 7am, i went for my first ever real life run. a proper run, i mean. just me and the road. because my nike plus was still refusing to cooperate, i simply ran with that week 9 c25k run again. right along the main road along the lake.

and i loved it.

the rather lovely scenery might have had something to do with it. and that smug feeling you get from running while everyone else hasn't even started to nurse their hangovers, too. but it was also, quite simply, really lovely to be out there in the morning, running and moving, and enjoying myself. how very very odd.

i tried not to worry at all about distance, and instead ran at a super manageable pace. and you know how far i ran? 6k, total. (checked the distance with the car, ha.) my usual 1k warmup/cooldown and 5k run combo during week 9 on the treadmill, actually. how very very awesome. on my second run, i made a conscious effort to run faster. and ran 500m more.

i'm a little less scared of my 5k the weekend after next.

any 5k prep tips for a newbie, though? what should i eat? when should i run my last prep run? do i need to drink during? how does an organised race work, anyway? eeeeep!

c25k graduation day.

last night, i graduated c25k.

on my final c25k-run, i walked 500m each during warm-up and cool-down and actually ran a full 5k. which was hard, but enjoyable, and awesome. when i started this, it didn't seem possible that i'd be running for 30 minutes, without stopping. and actually crank up the speed while doing so.

it was still on a treadmill, though. and the thought of having to replicate that on a road in two weeks and two days scares the shit out of me. i'll go for my first road run on saturday morning, in lugano. or so i hope. r. thinks, i won't do it (we're camping, and partying and all). which makes me want to prove him wrong. i actually reckon he said that just to motivate me. :) after my run, i'll get to swim naked in the lake. could i ask for a better premiere? not really.

i can't believe that i've done this, that i finally completed this running programme. and that i enjoy running now. and that my life is so different to what it was two months, six months, a year, two years ago.

i love my new self.

i'll keep on running. and i'll miss robert ullrey. thanks so much, robert. your podcasts have changed my life. no kidding.

20 minutes.

i completed that week 5, day 3 run last night. and as i was doing it, i ran my fastest mile yet, as lance armstrong kindly informed me afterwards. it was awesome. hard, yes, but fun, even. and when robert ullrey told me i was done, i almost started to cry. seriously. what a great feeling.

and now i want more, more, more.