Week Thirty Three

Three weeks to go and I can say quite honestly that this was the week when the biggest strides have been taken for me to take part in the Great South Run and resemble an athlete. This is important to me because I did not want to be the fat kid at the back of the field with everyone laughing at him (Trevor Silvester will understand that more than most). When Dr Lorraine Albon mention the run the second time and sold me the idea she said all I had to do was run for one minute then walk for one minute, that was my motivation to start my training and at the beginning even that seemed very hard to do.

My training has progressed with a few injuries and frustrations along the way (all documented in previous blogs), but I am standing here today not just thinking but knowing I will be good for the race and that I will do myself justice and make myself proud, this is harder than making everyone else proud because I have set myself high standards and I want to pay back all my family and supporters for their help and support in having faith in there products and in me when they did not know me. I will say this again and again Thank You All for giving me my life back, this time I want to carry on and make a difference no matter how small to help others and to help myself always have goals to achieve what ever they maybe.

This week I had done three runs and I am happy with that fact taking into account my shift work, my first run last Sunday was not that good but I had the group with me for support which was great, my second run had the eureka moment. These are my notes from this eight mile run. Nice and blowy on the run up normal on the way back same at turn around point for section up to South Parade Pier. Lots of lesson's learnt on this run. With the wind against me i managed to run for twenty minutes twice as long as furthest before that. Clearly previous training and miles in my legs helped on that,also running into the wind kept my speed down and I'm sure that helped.The five mile mark time was 1hr 7mins 45 seconds which is a PB and 1 minute 35 seconds better than the last run. I can feel the stamina now and feel so much stronger for it and my legs feel lighter if that makes sense. Twenty minutes running was truly amazing and the moment that I know all the training before had been worth while and worked, I was able to push myself along the way which was great it was a mixture of time and landmarks.

My third run 3.89miles two days after the second run was even more amazing than the last run these are my notes on this run. Cloudy and cool PB by 1 min 27 secs, Best run EVER, I ran for 31 min 24 secs also run for 14 min at the end more proud of that the the first bit, it feels so great to be training and look and feel like a runner.  The thing I learnt the most from this run was not the fact that I increased my run by over eleven minutes in one run, but the fact that I had a good second run when normally I just stop and start this shows me that I now have stamina and learning how to use it to maximum effect. Just how much better I could have been without my injuries we will never know but I am so glad that in my darkest time I never gave up.