Run #1

My first run. This took a bit of planning as, with no experience in running aside from those long cross-country torture sessions in secondary school where the PE staff kick back and play cards while they wait for you to crawl back in, I haven't really picked up any more than a short light jog for 10 years.

When I bought my running shoes, I asked about this and it really seems like there is no rule for anyone starting out as to how far to go and how long to run for. It's down to your own condition. So I worked it out like this:

I know I'm an optimist so I know I'll be disappointed when I fail to hit an optimistic goal. I also know my wife is a pessimist, so anything I achieve is likely to be beyond her expectations. So if I put a distance to her that she thinks is about twice as far as how far I can go, and is about half of what I think I can do, then it's probably right.

Now, I'm thinking about distance mainly because I'm trying to plan a route. And I'm planning metric at the moment as you get bigger numbers for the same distance. And I think I'll do about 1km in just over 7 minutes.

15 minutes seems to me to be a reasonable starting point for an unfit late 30's person. I know I need to get beyond 20 minutes for any real benefit, but I'm starting out and I don't want to ruin everything in the first week.

So, I arrive at a 2km run which is handily about the distance round a few local roads.

When do I run? As in what time of day? Well, various factors play into this. I don't want to run at a time when I'm full of food, it's dark, there's people around or I'll inconvenience my better half. She's not a morning person, so running before 7am on a weekday is a good bet. And it fits nicely with some other schedules.

I set the day for Friday (today!), set the alarm for 6:30, get my gear ready and try to get to bed early. This is early for me - I'm kind of a mid-morning person

I can't sleep. For some reason this whole thing is whizzing round my head. The obligatory "your being stupid", "you'll never get up", "why have I wasted so much money on those shoes" self doubt ...... I eventually sleep fitfully.

I wake with an elbow in my back and the alarm sounding. I *am* going to do this. I'm out the door in 15 minutes hoping that shorts and a T shirt are OK for 7 Celsius. I wear my sailing gloves to stop my fingers from bugging me and MP3 player for company. My sailing gloves have the end of the first finger and thumb cut out, so they're great when I need to adjust the MP3 player!

No one around - good - I'm off.

The first 300 meters goes well, but then there is the unusual feeling of being out of breath. Now I've read about walk-run-walk pacing as a means of gradually introducing the body to this new exercise, so I walk. Then I think about some other advice - the benefits come from pushing through the feeling of being out of breath and keeping going. I'm not going to wimp out now!

So it's back to the steady beat keeping the pace easy and just aiming to get round. If I feel like being optimistic, I can always run the circuit twice.

My time estimates aren't at all bad and I'm round the circuit in 15 minutes with no further walking, waving to my neighbour (damn) as I run onto my drive.

Lungs feel full of pond weed, head pounding, brain addled, I'm back home drinking fruit juice and trying to warm down with stretching - having forgotten to warm up.

So the ice is broken. Another plunge on Sunday I think.