So I went into unprecedented territory last night and took my first ever run outside!
Dun dun dunnn.
The reasons I don’t run outside usually are as follows:
• It’s cold
• It’s dark
• People can see you
• People can see you who are not also working out
• I might get lost
• If I get half way and can’t move any further, what do I do
• I pay the gym £50 a month to use their facilities
• There’s no cup holders outside
• It’s cold.
So as the evenings are getting a bit lighter I thought I would give it a go, especially as so many people tell me running outside is easier than on a treadmill, and I just can’t get much below 35 mins for a 5k and I’m sure I can do it quicker.
So out I go! Water bottle in one hand, mp3 player in the other, Stacy’s Mom being my first inspiration of the day. Luckily I live somewhere where there’s a good “Block” that I can run around, it also has the advantage of having easy/medium/difficult levels (ie there’s a point where I can just go home or continue running for a bit longer) and I think if you did all of the options on the block the run is about 6 miles (lol). But the minimum is just under 3 so not bad going.
I ran out of breath pretty quickly and needed to walk for the second verse of Stacy’s Mom, but then I kept up the running for the rest of it, plus a whole Gwen Stefani song. Then luckily Music of the Night saved me and I walked for about 3 minutes.
Next up was a bit of Ashlee Simpson (running) and Blur (walking for half then changed track). I was about halfway through the run at that point, then I’m Blue (da ba dee da ba die) came on and even though I was at the bottom of a hill I cracked on. And you know what, that’s a bloody long song. Or it seems it when you’re halfway through a three mile run. So I got to the end and thought “YES! WALK” when to my suprise, on came my broadway musicals CD and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.... which is possibly the best running song I have ever encountered. I positively bounced for the next two minutes before I need another 90 second walk.
By this point my feet were hurting (new running trainers = blistered foot arches) but I managed to break past the first “home run” point and got all the way up to the park, at which point I legged it past some yooves to the tune of “Reach” and sprinted down the hill home to the intro of Dizzee Rascal (little disconcerting seeing as the song starts with LAUGTHER).
I managed to run about 3.5 miles (5.6km) in 35 minutes (PB smashed) and I could have run further if it hadn’t been for my blistering inner feet so I’m pretty proud. And it really wasn’t as bad as I expected... Although please note the following:
- Running outside made my jaw hurt. I don’t know if it was the wind or how heavily I was breathing but at some points it was excruciatingly painful
- Running outside makes your thighs hurt. Treadmills don’t do this so need to remember some better thigh stretches.
- Running outside makes you feel like you have the lung capacity of 90 year old
- It isn’t people SEEING you that’s the issue, it’s them HEARING you. Seriously, when the music faded I couldn so people can see me all they like as long as they can’t hear the sounds of me breaking down like a piece of old machinery.
So I shall continue. Sunday morning is my next plan (blister permitting) and the real reason I’ve done this is because I was sort of challenged to run a Half Marathon for Havens hospices and thought “Why the hell not”
I have two months to get there. This should be fun, #gulp.
