Second running day. Thursday morning, 8.30am.

My first running in the rain experience - I suppose it had to come at some point and it at least meant that there weren't quite so many foot commuters along the river run this morning.
Yesterday I found myself thinking positively about the impending run today, feeling like I wanted to do it, funnily enough I didn't feel quite so positive first thing this morning, but I got up and flipped the coin of fate, and sure enough it landed 'heads for run' again.

I can't say that today was particularly that much easier than two days ago, and the fourth and sixth runs in particular were the hardest ones today, I found my legs were really dragging and I could have gladly flopped out on the soggy grass, but I valiantly carried on. And, I suppose  feeling the burn through the fourth and sixth runs means I have moved on a little way from Tuesday's experience of flagging  in the third and fourth.  One of today's biggest hurdles (literally) was dodging all the goose poo - 'much like a metaphor for life' I thought to myself as I was lolloping along in the drizzle.

Rather pleasingly the cool down tracks finished just as I reached my front door and pulled the door keys from my socks (where else does one house them might I ask?) and again, I felt pretty good about myself for having done something positive - and that's a pretty motivating feeling!

Although the podcast recommends that you leave a day between each run, I may well find myself running tomorrow morning to complete my allotted three runs in a week total, due to a hectic upcoming weekend. I have to say, I’m not entirely looking forward to not having a rest day, I definitely felt Tuesday's run in my muscles yesterday, but hey - it's a goose poo moment right?! If I keep alert I can get through it! Watch this space!

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So, today - for the second time I started the Couch to 5k running plan.
It comes in various connotations, from phone apps to downloadable paper programmes to podcasts. I have chosen to try the latter form.

I downloaded my podcast from the NHS website. I am not going to go through lots of ways to find it, suffice to say, if you Google 'NHS Couch to 5K' you can't go wrong.

It's a nine week plan that aims to get people like me (and worse I might add) up and running with steadily increasing run to walk timings. The plan works by getting you to repeat each podcast three times; then, you simply move on to the next one.

'Laura' acts like the 'good' angel on the shoulder and advises you when to run, when to walk and on your five minute warm up and cool down sessions.

Now - back to my admission of having started the plan before. I did you see, and to my shame, only got one run in before having to shelve it for a couple of weeks. In my defence however, this was due to the impending deadline of eleven-thousand words of essays to complete in two weeks for a Masters in Music... so you see, I had my reasons.

So I guess we need to come back to the question of 'Couch to 5k. Why Bother?' Well.... simply because I have seen it works. I have seen first-hand evidence of the benefits of Couch to 5k and how it has turned around the life of someone who thought that they would never run. A very lovely friend of mine, Emma started the programme after years of trying various diets, regimes and self-imposed conditions and having two lovely children. I don’t know exactly how much weight she has lost but there's no need to ask. She looks amazing, and as she glides around in size ten jeans. With glowing skin and bubbling over with energy to entertain her kids, I know that she exudes the benefits of a healthy body and a healthy lifestyle and that her children will continue to benefit from this too.

I don't have children to think about, but I do come from a family with a history of diabetes and cancer and at 32 these things start to come to your attention a little more. I have always been overweight. For as long as I can remember (even since teenagedom) I have never worn under a size 14 and currently my size 16 clothes are feeling a bit too snug and for as long as I can remember I have always hated my body. All of it. There seems to be no let-up in the voices in my head that tell me how disgusting I look. So in short, before I go into needless detail, and because this blog is not being written for sympathy votes; but because I know that I am by no means the only woman who feels like this about themselves... (And probably because I need something to fill my hours now all the essays are finished!)... This is why I am bothering.

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