5K: 00:43:04

And, having promised to keep this updated with each fitness activity I do, what do I then promptly go and do? That’s right, immediately forget to do the next entry. Oh well. Here I am now. (The one I missed was 5K in 00:46:41, incidentally, nothing to get excited about.)

Today, I had new shoes to contend with. The notable differences between these new shoes and my old ones were: 1) they fit and 2) they’re not (at least) 10 years old. The amount of difference the new shoes made to the running was pretty remarkable. I’m not sure how much of that significantly better time was down to the more comfy shoes and how much was down to running in daylight for once, but either way, good job me.

Here’s how today’s run went. Timings are, of course, approximate.

• -00:05: I wish GPS on the iPhone locked on a little quicker. I know it’s only a few seconds, but st— oh, there it is. Time to go.
• 00:01: Let’s walk. It’s cold. Wow, really cold. At least it’s not icy.
• 03:30: Is that guy really doing a 3-point turn in the middle of a crossroads? Why yes. Yes he is.
• 04:10: That must be about five minutes now. I can’t be bothered to get my phone out of my pocket to check though. Let’s run!
• 05:00: Shouldn’t it have been half a kilometre by now? I’m sure it’s normally half a kilometre by now.
• 05:20: Oh. There’s half a kilometre.
• 06:20: I wish I would pace myself a bit better when I start running. I’m out of breath already. POWER ON THROUGH.
• 08:00: Can’t talk. Can’t breathe.
• 10:00: I have successfully powered on through.
• 10:30: That’s a big truck, and it looks like it’s carrying—
• 10:35: Yep. Definitely carrying shit. And now I’m running in its vapour trail.
• 10:40: Feel a bit sick. This road smells incredibly strongly of shit.
• 11:00: Smell of shit has gone. Feeling of nausea has passed.
• 12:00: I have a stitch. Ouch.
• 12:30: Why do you only ever get a stitch down one side of your body? (The right side, in my case.) I’m sure someone out there can answer this.
• 14:00: Stitch seems to have gone… mostly, but I get the impression it’s lurking in the background a bit.
• 17:00: Yep. There it is. Ouch.
• 18:00: Gone again.
• 20:00: This road’s quite dull. But at least it’s not too hilly. And conveniently, the obvious landmarks are all approximately 0.5km apart from each other.
• 25:00: Dear iPod. Please throw up a few more upbeat, inspirational tracks. “Theme of Love” from Final Fantasy IV is giving this whole endeavour something of a tragic feeling, like I should be running in slow motion towards a village on fire, only to find my lover breathing her last as I arrive moments too late and then swear revenge on whoever did this. I may also cry “Noooooo!” to the sky.
• 27:00: The village does not appear to be on fire. This is a relief. My stitch is coming back though.
• 30:00: Enough with the melancholy songs. Seriously. I like that Lily Allen song, but it’s not great running music.
• 32:00: Sonic the Hedgehog. Much better.
• 35:00: You can see 0.5km ahead of you much easier when it’s daylight. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. You can see how slowly that point 0.5km away is coming towards you.
• 38:00: Nearly there. Legs a bit tired now. But feet aren’t hurting. Yay.
• 39:00: Why is the last bit always the hardest?
• 40:00: This bit’s a little bit easier, actually. Is it downhill? It doesn’t look like it.
• 41:00: Hmm. More difficult again.
• 42:00: Finishing line in sight! Come on! And yes, iPod, that OCRemix version of that piece from Final Fantasy VII is a good piece of finish on. Good choice.
• 43:00: Done. Yay!

A good session today, then. I’m also going to attempt the 100 Push-Ups and 200 Sit-Ups programmes in an attempt to chisel my woeful top half into some sort of shape. I’ve downloaded iPhone apps and everything. So you know I’m serious. If I can convince myself to try it today, expect further posts on this page later!