Forward Progress

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I don't know what specifically it is about Saturday mornings that makes me feel so rough. There was a time when it would have been half a dozen pints and a dirty kebab that accounted for it, but it has been some years since that was a regular occurrence. To be honest, the newer slimmer (older) me would probably struggle to consume on a night out as I managed in days gone by, not that the opportunity comes about too often now I'm the proud dad of two beautiful boys.

This morning, just as last Saturday, I didn't feel my best. The sore neck that was was impairing me has improved a lot after finding a better pillow combination and managing to get some sleep with the weather cooling down. And yet after polishing off my branflakes, all I really wanted to do was crawl back into bed rather than head off to Black Park for my weekly ParkRun.

However, head off I did. I've no excuse not to now, after my other half bought an annual parking permit meaning I don't have to scrounge together £2.50 to park my car to do the run. If I don't use it, I'll be in trouble, so looks like my Saturday mornings for the foreseeable future will be spent killing myself in a pair of running shoes.

It is funny running outdoors. I'm used to hitting a treadmill at the gym, where I have the choice of music or Sky Go on my phone to keep me amused, or failing that Millionnaire Matchmaker or Emerdale on ITV2 to laugh at while going along at a steady 12kph. But when I'm running outdoors, I leave the phone at home and just focus on the course. Except my mind never lets me just focus on running. Today it was telling me there was no point in entering the 10k in September because I'll just embarass myself. It was trying to convince my body that I'd have to give up when I hit the 2k marker, which in due course I managed to miss and suddenly found myself at the 3k marker instead. It had me believing I'd run slower than last week and possibly slower than my previous runs too.

And yet when the result came through earlier this afternoon, another PB had been notched up. 23 seconds off last week's time, finishing a respectable 28:02. Link to my ParkRun times True it isn't quite as swish as my brother-in-law who recorded a sub 25 minute run today up in Bradford, though he politely informed me that circuit is a lot easier than mine!

Given I've not engaged in any meaningful cardio exercise since the run last Saturday morning, I was delighted to have topped my PB. It felt like a struggle throughout, but I'll happily feel dreadful every week if it keeps knocking 23 seconds off the time. I'd like to think that at some point I will find it gets easier, though I somehow doubt that. Still, an obvious target for next week is to dip below 28 minutes and if I do that I'll be ecstatic.

So tonight, I'm going to enjoy my now traditional Saturday night bottle or two. I think they're merited after giving up an hour of kids TV this morning to go and run myself into the ground. Weightloss in the week followed by a PB at the weekend. Things are progressing nicely.

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