A non-runner's long run: A little bit further than not very far

Hello!

Sunday = Strictly Results, X Factor results, making sarnies for Monday at work, and trying not to dribble on the settee during your afternoon snooze (owners of toddlers excluded). It also = blog time and for today it = a new personal best!

In fact today has seen two personal bests. No, I am not referring to the record amounts of noise the children in our church can make at inopportune moments. Or the record for the amount of roast chicken eaten in one sitting (though I did attempt this). But, wait for it..... I ran FURTHER than ever before! And I ran the first 3 miles FASTER than ever before! Get me! Further AND faster! These are very positive words. Admittedly to run a bit further than not very far and faster than not very fast isn't huge but I'm quite proud of myself.

Today I ran twice round The National Watersports centre. This doesn't just mean circling the canteen twice whilst tucking into a cream tea (although that sounds fabulous) but actually running 5.93 miles. I'll say that again..... 5.93 miles! It took me 1hour and 6 minutes. I managed to run almost all of it and just a short walk at one point where my short, but chunky legs felt like they might collapse beneath my fairly substantial weight. But even with the walk, that's an average of 11:08mins per mile which is reasonably respectable. So that's the further bit.

I managed to run the first 3 miles of today's run in a blistering, blinding, blink and you'll miss me (in a taking 40 winks rather than a blink kind of way) average of 10:30mins/mile. Again, for anyone who knows anything about running, this is actually not awesome at all. The point is though, that when I started I could barely get to the top of the road before thanking God for the pedestrian crossing, the stop that creates and then taking a long time to stumble 2 miles. Progress!

On Thursday, I ran 3.67 miles (6K) in 40mins which was pretty good for me too.

So only two runs but both pretty reasonable pace. So I now owe my sponsorship pot £9.60- £1/mile/week. Maybe you could do 50p/mile/week? Or 10p/mile/week? Pretty please? (PS. Thanks to my first sponsor- Becca Williams is a lovely girl!)
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/longrunlizzy

During today's run, there were some lovely moments when I managed a little smile to myself between the beetroot faced grimaces. There were lots of geese flying perfectly in formation- always makes me wonder how they're so organised. There some funny, little boys on bikes wobbling around with parents trying to keep up. There were some swans flying so low that one had it's feet scuttling along the water and looked like it was running on the water. There was also a memorial to Wayne Smith. I don't know Wayne but it just so happened that his memorial is next to some benches where I started and ended my run. Turns out that Wayne was 36 when he died. Another sporting, fit person dying in their 30's and another motivating sight for making all the pain, puffing and sweat (don't even get me started on the sweating) worthwhile if it raises money for research into medical science.

The benches, incidentally, were brilliant for collapsing on to after my run and taking a couple of pics.....