What a difference 2 months makes

Nearly 3 years ago I quit smoking for many reasons, financial, for family and for health reasons. But even then I didn't think I would be running a few times a week to get fit, and enjoying it so much. So I am happy to say that after 2 months of running I have gone from running 0.80km to running a PB of 10km, yep you read it 10km!

I had recovered well from my 8km run on Monday and was planning on texting Rob to see if he fancied a run. Especially as he was ill, but I kept forgetting as I was distracted by the thunder and lightning and updating my iTunes playlist. So I was glad when Rob txt me to see if I fancied a run.

I ran down to meet Rob and I told him that I was gonna make him run further today. We were gonna run the same lap as I did on Monday and see how far Rob could do on his 2nd run with me. I won't go into too much detail this time as It was very similar to Mondays run. At the end of lap 1 Rob was quite impressed that we had nearly done in 1 lap what he had done in the 2 laps he did with me on Friday. Our conversations weren't interrupted by our breathing as much this time which was a confidence booster, and that helped Rob reach nearly 5km before he dropped out. I left Rob about 2/3 round lap 2 and carried on to do 3 laps, at the top of the Knowle of lap 3 I had passed 8km and wasn't feeling as bad as I did on Monday. It was at that point that it occurred to me that I had been running for 2 months and should try and do something extra to recognise that milestone. So as I rounded the bend by Shepley Spring I turn up the hill again and head towards Shepley First School where I hit 9km and then headed back towards home, so I would hit 10km as I reached home. I was really surprised at how much energy I still had and as I was a few hundred metres I looked at my time and noticed that if I pushed I could break the 1 hour barrier. Digging deep I started to sprint down the road and round the last bend and back home. Almost jumping for joy as my app tells me that I had done 10km in 59.51, I opened the gate to the garden and just raised my arms in amazement at what I had just done.

After a shower and congratulatory hug from my boys I txt Rob just saying 10km, I get a swift reply say well done. He also mentioned that before we do the 5km charity run in just over 3weeks time he wants to have done 10km too. I said I would hold him to that and he told me to put it in my blog so he could back out of it. So it's in now Rob so there, no going back 10km target set.

The Endomundo app that I use has a pep talk feature so other users can send me pep talks as I'm running. My wife uses this feature and sends me pep talks as I go, these are very good and quite often help me push that little more. So I must thank her as she is wonderful and has been very supportive these past 2 months, and I'm sure she will keep being as supportive too in the future.

Plus another big thank you to Janice for my NEW SHOES!!!!!

I am now sat with an Ice pack on my ankles made from frozen water pearls, they're like peas but better as you don't have to worry about squishing them and making mushy peas....