Run 1 - Tuesday 31 August 2010

So Tom met me at my house at 6.30pm, as arranged, and boy was I nervous! I had gotten so worked up, I had butterflies!! I'd been running up and down the stairs for about 10 minutes, to warm my muscles up, get the blood pumping and most importantly, to check that my trousers weren't going to fall down as soon as I started moving!

We made our way to the canal tow path which, handily, is just at the end of my street. We decided to go left along it, towards town. I had asked Tom if he'd train with me, as he is one of only a hand-ful of people I know who have run the Bath Half before (Tom's done it the last two years). I thought it would be useful to train with someone who knows the course and can help me reach the goal. So, I had asked Tom if we could start slowly with my first run, starting with the 5 minute jog, 1 minute walk etc. as I outlined in my previous post. He said that that was fine, so we got going as he set the timer.

It was quite a new experience to me. I'd only ever run on my own, either round the block or at the gym, so have never chatted whilst running. It came as quite a surprise to me when I realised it wasn't as difficult to breathe, run and talk all at the same time. If anything, it helped the 5 minutes pass quickly and we were having our 1 minute walk break. I was feeling good! I wasn't aching or hurting anywhere and I didn't feel too much of an idiot. However, my trousers had slipped a little; another advantage to having a 1 minute walk break - time to pull them up again!

I'm not sure we stuck to just 1 minute of walking, we just started up again when Tom said, 'From that bin?' and I said, 'Sure!' as I was feeling ok and had caught my breath. We did the next 5 minutes and my legs were beginning to tire a little, but having Tom running alongside me kept me going. We had gotten into a rhythm and that really helped to push me on. By the time the second 5 minutes were up we had arrived on the part of the path where it meets the bus station, all way in town! I couldn't believe how far we'd come! When I mapped our course on the WalkJogRun.net website, it came to 1.65 miles from where we started to where we stopped by the bus station. Not bad going, really, for my first run in years! As we turned and began to walk back, our conversation moved on to films; Lord of the Rings, Bad Boys II and Rocky. I've not seen Rocky before, but Tom was telling me that he finds it a good thing to watch before the marathon, it's motivational and helps you believe you can do it. Perhaps I'll rent it out some time. Anyone else have any good motivational films to recommend? My housemate Nat keeps referring to Run Fatboy, Run... Not sure I like the sound of that one! Apparently the 'fatboy' in question is chased on by his friend, who's smacking him on the bottom with a spatula... I think I'll wait til after the marathon to watch that one!

In around 2 minutes into our first 5 minute jog blocks on the way back, I suddenly got a massive stitch in my right hand side. Oof, it was painful! I couldn't run through it, so I had to slow down. I gave in and just walked briskly, taking in deep breaths, until it went away. Tom was telling me that apparently the lactic acid that is produced when you get a stitch can actually be used as energy, if you can run through it... ! Yeah, if you can run through the pain! Quite interesting though, amazing how our bodies work... Once it had passed, we set off again, restarting the 5 minute jog block. My legs were really beginning to ache but I wasn't going to stop again. I carried on until we were back where we started. It felt great! We walked up the hill to my house as a little warm down and went in to grab some water. It was only once we stopped moving completely and got inside, out of the Sunshine, that I realised how much I'd sweated! It soon dawned on my that this was all going to get cold and stiffen me up. So I took a stroll to the Post Office and back to loosen up and let the sweat dry up a bit (gross, I know, but it's all part of the running process, so it's got to go in this blog!). It was at the Post Office that Tom and I said goodbye and arranged our next session - Sunday 5 September 2010 at 7.30pm. I may even squeeze one in before then...