The wind beneath my wings....

I'm bored with running titles now.... (OK OK I'm brain dead and cant think of one - plus it's VERY windy.... )

So today I was supposed to be running C25K W6.1. I say supposed to be, because I haven't run today. BUT!! I'm not skipping a day, oh no. I'm not letting as little thing like a hurricane stop me from completing my planned run. I did it YESTERDAY instead. The weather man was kind enough to give us plenty warning of the hurricane this time, so I went out Sunday morning for my run as I really did not fancy running in 85 mph winds.... It's not quite at 85mph yet, but its exceedingly blustery out there, much windier than yesterday morning when I did 6.1

Week 6 is again 3 different sessions. Day 1 was what the voice (btw the female runner who talks to you during the NHS podcasts is called Laura - but I much prefer referring to her as 'the voice' - its far more Big Brother) calls 'consolidating what we have already achieved' and consists of 5 min warm up walk, 5 min run, 3 min walk, 8 min run, 3 min walk, 5 min run, 5 min cool down walk. I thought I might feel like I was being too easy on myself -  after running for a full 20 mins without stopping on Friday - but it didn't! It wasn't hard as such, but no way was it a walk in the park. The added wind factor meant it was quite tough going and my speed was slow. I also changed the last run to 8 mins instead of 5..... because I wanted to run a bit further, burn some more calories, and improve my average pace a bit. Also - because despite the fact my legs were still feeling Fridays 20 min run - I was enjoying myself and wasn't ready to stop.

Hang on a mo - rewind a little..... 2 things about this blog post are setting off a warning light in my brain. 1- I had the weekend free with no running scheduled, but because I heard about todays wind I ran EARLY. and 2- The voice told me to stop and I ran on for 3 more mins because I wanted to. ALERT!! 7 weeks ago I would have blown off the Monday session and just missed it, no biggie right? so what if it would have upset my whole running schedule. And as for running longer than I need to? ppffffffft - like I would have ever even run! and I certainly wouldn't have done more lengths at the pool or walked an extra KM 'just because'. That's 2 big changes in attitude to exercise right there. MASSIVE.

Could this be one of the plans of the program or is this just a useful side effect? I would hesitate to say I'm addicted to running - but I think I am addicted to the results of the running. I like the feeling after I have run (endorphins - cant whack 'em) and what has been achieved by running. I like the fact I have burned calories, worked my muscles, burned some fat, added to my fitness, achieved another goal by completing the session. That's it - I'm an achievement junkie! Moving my run forward because I cant wait till the next hit...... doing that extra little bit more running than I should, for that extra 'self satisfaction' high...... quite a scary thought. Long may it last!

While reading another unrelated running based article today I stumbled across this link to
Mark Remy's Rules to Run By - 10 mins and several hearty chuckles later I now want to read the book... so have ordered it, and his other book - a runners field guide, from Amazon. Ok who IS this imposter pretending to be me and what have you done with the real me??!!

Just to end today - here's a BRAND NEW running song - think this might just have to be adopted as the theme tune for my running journey - thank you Matt.