Beach run

I’ve taken advantage of a “reading week” at university and removed myself out of the rat race down to my parent’s caravan in Devon. The weather is glorious, and since it’s not the school holidays, thankfully the site is almost free from screaming children and barking dogs.

I thought it might be a nice idea to go for a little run along the beach, and had visions of me striding, Pamela-Anderson-in–Baywatch-style across the sands through the breaking water. Hmmm.  It didn’t quite work out like that. Running on sand, whether it be dry (gets in your trainers) or damp (makes your feet wet) is actually bloody hard work. The blazing sunshine probably didn’t help either, and the fact that I was wearing black made me sweat like a pig. Still I impressed myself by managing to go 2 miles – although very slowly, without having to stop.

I then decided that I’d run back on the coastal path, which has the most stunning view of the beach, and is surrounded by fields filled with happy little lambs, and it almost made me glad that I had made the effort. Apart from the uphill bits, which I had to walk because my lungs still don’t do uphill. For anyone who knows the area, I went from Woolacombe beach to Putsborough Sands and back along the south west coast path.

All in all, I’d managed 4 miles, with just a tiny little stop in the middle. It took me 47 minutes, which I know is not very fast, but I am proud of myself for making the effort. I might try it again later in the week and see if I can do sub 45 minutes.

Due to a limited internet access I have struggled to find an appropriate motivational quote for the week. However, I did find the following on my phone which seemed appropriate. It struck me while I was on the coast path, between desperate gasps for breath, that however much I might have been struggling at that moment, I was actually incredibly fortunate to have the good health to be there at all, and the freedom to just go for a run. Sometimes I do like to moan a bit and I forget that actually I am incredibly blessed in life. 

Thank you for reading.

Gadgets and gizmos

My parents very kindly bought be a fancy Garmin Forerunner 110 for Christmas - ironically purchased on the very same day that I fell over, and therefore it has remained in the box ever since. However, spurred on by reports of friends doing brilliantly in various 10ks and half marathons over the last two days, I thought it was about time for me to get moving again. 

According to the box "Hotfix GPS helps you get started with your run faster than ever". Maybe this little device is just what I have been looking for. The box contains the watch device thing, a plug, a usb cable and 12 separate instruction manuals in different languages - which seemed like a bit of a waste of paper to me. Surely there could be a single leaflet directing people to their website, which they could put the instructions on instead of this:

Despite this, the watch is nice and easy to use, and I didn't even need to set the time, as it gets that from the satellites. This did unfortunately involve me hanging around on a street corner for five minutes, while it searched for the satellites, making me grateful that I was clad in lycra and tatty tshirt, otherwise I may have attracted some unwanted attention.

I headed out after dark - I suspect this will become more of a problem within the next month because I don't really fancy going out after 10pm as summer approaches, but I'm yet to get over my fear of being seen by someone that I know. I pressed the start button, and off I went. This handy little gadget keeps a record of the distance and the current pace, and beeps every half mile just to let you know its there. 

Unfortunately, I have regressed to even worse than when I started back in November, and my lungs felt like they were on fire after 200 metres. However, I managed to keep going for 2.24 miles before I had to stop, which is further than I thought I would be able to do. My legs feel fine and could keep going; it is my breathing control which is the problem. I know that this will improve quite quickly - I just need to stick with it. I'm going to aim for for 3 miles continuously by this time next week. 

Plugged the little watch into the laptop on my return home, and it really is quite cool. It produces a little map and shows all the stats (including how pathetically slow I actually am!) just like this:

I think it will help with my motivation when I can see how I am improving as the weeks go by, and I just need to believe in myself a little bit more than I do now. I like that it tells me how many calories I have used as well, I can justify the supersize of my chicken nugget meal by running an extra mile now.

As usual, I will finish with today's motivational quote. Thank you for popping by.