Janathon day 5: Tiredness, teeth gritting and talking… to myself.

Twenty five minutes on a freezing cold platform did not prepare me well for my run tonight. I was tired and really didn’t want to go but a banana scoffed, I was out the door before I had a chance to bail. I’d decided I was just going to get round tonight, no pushing too hard and no worrying about time. I was tired when I started and I know that I hadn’t been drinking enough throughout the day. I was already talking to myself before I’d even completed 1k muttering ‘Why am I doing this to myself?’ but I kept going and when the little voice piped up on my phone to tell me I had completed the first kilometre fifteen seconds  quicker than my fastest kilometre last night, I had to keep going.

There was a lot of teeth gritting and a lot of talking to myself but it got me round without stopping. My fastest kilometre was 20 seconds faster than my quickest lap last night and my total run was 1 minute 16 seconds quicker. On Tuesday the route took me 34 minutes 29 seconds to complete and tonight I finished in 30 minutes 26 seconds. It’s not fast but it’s a definite improvement and that is one of the things I love about running. You can see yourself improve on a constant basis and the improvement is quicker than you think it may be. I’m not saying that there aren’t going to be bad days because there most definitely are. You just need to pick yourself up and keep going in order to achieve your goals. A bit like life really! I want to be able to run the Berlin half marathon on 1^st April in less than 2 hours and I am confident that if I work hard and keep my end goal in sight, I am more than capable.

I know that my running updates and posts are probably boring some people on Twitter and a few people may choose to unfollow me but the posts are helping me to keep going. I really want that time so badly so I’m sorry if I’m boring anybody along the way. Thinking about what I’m going to blog about is a great distraction when I’m running. What is there to say when you are running the same 5k route 3 days in a row? During that half an hour that I’m out running, all sorts of things fly in and out of my head. Tonight I thought about my run, why I was doing this to myself, is there any way I am ever actually going to be able to run a marathon and then I pushed the negative thoughts aside.  The Endomondo voice interrupted me after every kilometre to tell me each lap was speedier than last night and when I knew an improved time was in sight, I just kept pounding the pavement until I got home to tuck into my dinner with a big smile on my face.

Janathon day 5 is complete and I have to say I’m feeling a little sleepy. I need to run tomorrow morning as I have plans tomorrow evening. This scares me a little to be honest so I’m going to head to bed with my hot water bottle and dream nice thoughts while ignoring the howling wind.

What I learned tonight

·         If I keep working hard, I will improve

·         There does seem to be some kind of recession going on, even in Barnes. This time last year I remember seeing loads of huge, national lampoon style Christmas trees outside the big houses waiting for the bin men. This year the sorry looking trees are bonsai in comparison

·         Drinking water is essential. I know that I hadn’t hydrated enough today and I really felt it on the run

·         Talking to yourself is good. Yes, you do look a little mad but you can’t stop running and give up if you’ve just given yourself a good talking to out loud in public. It’s much less embarrassing to keep running, firstly so that people don’t recognise you and secondly to avoid the mocking

·         I really like the Endomondo voice when it tells me I’ve improved my lap time. However, I can imagine there will be days I’ll hate that voice, much like the Sat nav voice when it recalculates and increases your journey time, barking at you that there are no faster routes available