Park Run Take Two

So Thursday night means the opportunity to take part in the local park run.  I didn't really know if I wanted to run it last night either.  I think it all comes down to those nerves really.  Just like not wanting to do it the first week either because what if I'm last, what if I can't run it (even though I know I can run 5km), what if there are too many people for me, where do I put my keys!!!  All silly little things.  BUT ....  luckily I have this friend.  She encouraged me to run it last week, she suggested I go back and run it again last night.  And I'm glad I did.  I battled the wind last night and I still managed to knock 30 seconds off last weeks time!

I'm so, so thankful for friends.  Friends who are also runners.  Friends who give me that little push when I need it.  Thank you so much!

Manawatu Gorge Track

What a way to celebrate birthdays!  My running buddy Kate celebrated her birthday earlier in February and I celebrated mine just last week so over the weekend we headed out to celebrate.  And how exactly did we do this?  By running the Manawatu Gorge Track.  I remember from walking the Loop last year that there are a lot of steps at the beginning but I don't think I was fully aware of just how much uphill there is for the first 3km!  I struggled.  Walking up the hills felt like the best thing to do to conserve some energy and I really think this did play off with being able to 'fly' through some of the other parts later in the run.  Now while time isn't really an issue we had kind of set ourselves a mini goal of completing it in 1.5hours.  We did it!  Here's just some of the fun we had on Saturday:

I really think this does show just how much fun we had.  I will never say it wasn't hard.  I also won't say that at times I didn't wish I could just give up and be at the end without having to run it at all.  I won't say it wasn't one of the hardest 10km I have done before.  But I will say, I am proud I did it and yes I will go back and do it again.  And just so you can see what I mean about the hills etc and why I walked some, here is the graph showing the elevation of the run:

Till next time :)

A New Month

It's March already!!  I just heard the other week that here in Feilding they are putting on a Feilding Fives Park run for the month of March.  The first one just happened to fall on my birthday as well so thought - well what better present to give myself than run my first ever park run.  I rocked on down last night, registered for it and headed off for my run.  Firstly, running on grass is HARD.  Secondly, Timona Park has lots of hilly bits!!  But I did it.  And I'm stoked with how I did considering the conditions out there.  Here's the photo proof of my run from last night:

Roll on next Thursday when I can do it all again!

A big fat tick!

Thanks to my running buddy Kate, this weeks long 18km run can all be ticked off.  I really have to say I am quite happy to have achieved this.  And the best part - running in Palmerston North meant no looping back over the same route and some new scenery for me.  Hard to believe when you look at the map that we didn't even cover much of Palmerston in the end:

Quietly, I am also quite happy that this coming weekend is just a shorter run.  It is going to be hard still as all off road but I'm ready for just something a little different.  Almost a new month too and I guess that means setting some new goals as well.

Wish me luck!!

Tomorrow's run is all mapped out!  Check it out here! 18km - I haven't run this long in quite some time.  I've had a good build up during the week (7km, 8km and a very quick 4.8km).  I know I can run this distance as I have done it before BUT ...  Just wish me a little luck and I will be back in a few days to let you know how it went.

Goal Met!

At the beginning of the month I set myself the goal of running 100km for the month of February.  I have done this with 4 days to spare.  A 7km run on Tuesday and another 8km on Wednesday meant I met my goal.  I still have another short run to do on Friday and then my long run on Sunday which Kate has mapped out our 18km for us.  Very exciting really.  I really getting back into my running now.

The week in reflection

Another week done and dusted in terms of running training.  I started the week with some hill reps. The hill I chose I have run before and it is a bit of a nasty one at times.  I decided I just wanted to get to the top of it four times - three of which needed to be run all the way up.  It's just 200 metre up so I thought it can't be that bad and surely it will be good for me.  By the third up, I had to stop and walk some of it. This meant no stopping on the four up.  I plodded my way up and then decided to carry on along the road right to the end before coming back down and finishing my run.  For those who know Feilding at all, I chose Highfield Hill for these reps just so you know what I was completing against. Next run was Wednesday night. I had already decided this would be a longer steady run.  I was so ecstatic when I got back and saw I had kept an average pace of 5.50 for this 8km run.  I haven't had stats like that for quite some time so cue a little victory dance for me.  That left one week day run to do.  My time trial and since it was coming up to the end of February I wanted to see if I could meet my challenge of a sub 5minute km.  Guess what? I did!! My pace for that km was an amazing 4.55.  I felt really proud of myself but did then realise that it was quite similar to my last time trial as I have been running just over the 1km mark.  Oh well, this can be my official personal best and I have something to work on from here.  Then along rolled Sunday and long run day.  Honestly if I didn't have Kate as my running buddy I probably wouldn't have run.  I just had a bad running vibe with me and it was stopping me from being my usual bubbly self about my runs.  With the support of Kate and her encouraging me along, I managed to plod out 16km this morning.  I felt terrible that I didn't use proper running etiquette today and I went ahead a couple of times and also ran an extra road but Kate insisted I get my kms in and that she would meet up again with me but she just needed to keep it a little easier today.  So now I just need to work out what I plan to run for this coming week.  Maybe some intervals, a steady run and then of course my long run next weekend again with Kate.  Training seems to be going okay and I know the excitement will be back again soon.