This post is a day late because a friend from way back is home from the United States for a holiday. He wanted to go out for a curry (apparently you can’t get a decent curry in the United States, or at least not in Ohio) so about a dozen of us did just that. Consequently I didn’t get round to posting last night.

Day 5: I was up and out bright and early this morning. I woke up a bit before six and lay and listened to the radio for a while. After about half an hour I decided that I might as well get up. Looking out of the window the sun was shining and the little birdies were singing so I decided that I would do todays run before breakfast. I did have a cup of coffee and a slice of toast, so I suppose that the run took place before second breakfast^{© JRR Tolkien}

My technology failed me a bit, for some reason Strava only recorded the second part of my run. It lost the part up to the point where I stopped to take this photo. Perhaps it was trying to tell me that I am supposed to be running and not stopping to admire the view, but you must admit Beddington Park was looking particularly fine.

I think that the programme steps up a bit tomorrow. It either increases the number of segments or reduces the recovery times – or both. I’ll tell you about it if I survive.

Another walk/run/shuffle successfully completed. The format was the same as last time; a five minute warmup walk, then eight one minute runs with one and a half minute recovery walks. then a five minute warm down walk. It felt a bit harder today for some reason. I could be that it is colder and generally more miserable than it has been. Because of that I put a pair of long (cycling) tights on as well as an extra layer on top. Also I went out after I came home from work rather than going out first thing in the morning as I did the previous two times. It could also be that I was running faster. Strava tells me that I covered an extra 150m compared to Monday. So that quite possibly explains it. It felt harder because I was working harder.
I also earned myself a determination badge. I suppose that it means that I didn’t give up after the first run.

The run also induced the beginnings of runner’s paranoia. This I believe, can be a very expensive disease to treat.

As I was running I was feeling a slight pain in my shins. This lead to thoughts along the lines of;
“Are my £50 Adidas cross-trainers providing adequate cushioning when I am running on the road?”
“Should I go out and buy myself a pair of proper running shoes?
“How much should I pay £100 – £150 – £200?”
“What is the best make?”
“I’ll Google it when I get home”
By the time I got home the paranoia had calmed down a bit, so I think I’ll stick with the £50  cross-trainers, at least for the time being.