iRun

A few weeks ago I started running. I was inspired by my sister who intends to run the Duchy marathon in Cornwall next year. I went out with her while I was down there and did a couple of miles and really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd give it a bash as a way of keeping fit and shifting a bit of weight. The first couple of times I went out in Bristol, I did about 20 minutes. I had stitch, I was out of breath, and I pulled a calf muscle (largely due to the crappy old trainers I was wearing). Undeterred, I invested in some new running shoes, and these made a lot of difference.

I've now been out about a dozen times, gradually increasing my time and distance, and I've joined a club on Tuesday nights. The calf was a bit tight for a while but seems to be better now. Last night felt really good. At the beginner's club at upandrunning we did 8 lots of 4 minutes with 1 minute walking in between. At the end of this I still had some energy so I ran home - another 8 minutes, making a total of about 40 minutes running, and a distance of just under 5 miles.

Being a nerd, I plot out my routes on walkjogrun and keep scrupulous records in a spreadsheet. So far I've been out 12 times, ran 35.32 miles, in 5.18 hours, with an average speed of 6.67 miles per hour (approx.). And having an addictive personality, I really miss the run on my rest days, which is bizzare, but it's good to have a healthy addiction for a change.

I'm not sure whether I'll end up doing a marathon, but I'll at least aim for a half, maybe in Bath or somewhere. In the meantime I may do a 5K or two. Let's see how long the craze lasts.