Run one.  Well, today was run one of week three and I was nervous.  This run required me to go for three minutes for the first time and three minutes seemed a big jump from ninety seconds.  We went to yoga this morning and I was feeling very stretched and ironed out by that.  I had missed breakfast so by the time we got home I was starving and immediately made scrambled eggs with tomatoes and spinach.  I decided I shouldn't run directly after that and sat down to do some knitting instead.  An hour or so later I looked out of the window.  It was raining gently.  This did not make me feel like going out.

However one of the good things about this fitness drive is that Ian is also doing the couch to 5k and I find that the fact that I am not alone motivates me when I might well give up if I was.  He ran before lunch and came in reporting that it wasn't so bad.  Now he is fitter than I am so that didn't mean I would think the same but it did make me feel that I should get on with it.

So I put aside my knitting, put on my running trousers and skanky fleece, pocketed my phone and found my gloves.  With no more procrastination available, out I went.  And it was fine!  It was better than fine! I didn't have too much trouble doing the two three minute runs, although my legs were beginning to tire after the second one.  I enjoyed the fact that I was allowed to walk for three minutes between the two bouts of running and by the time I was finishing I was feeling good.

Amazing.  Who would have thought it?

Run two: and the second run of week three was pretty much a rerun of the first.  This time I had been to Pilates and once again I think that means that I am stretched and warmed up which has to be good.  Again I breakfasted as soon as I got back and ran about an hour later.  Wednesday proved to be a very active day because in the afternoon I went out with our local walking group so Thursday was a rest day, and very welcome it was too.

And run three of week three loomed over me today.  I was at my Welsh class this morning and looked out of the window to see that it was snowing gently.  I thought that if there was snow at home I might not be able to run.  Throughout the class the fine snow stopped and started, lying gently on the grass.  The class finished a little early so we could all get home.  There are perhaps nine miles between the village where the class takes place and our house up on the hill.  The closer I got to home the greener the fields became until by the time I was bowling along the valley road, ready to turn up the steep hill towards Penycloddiau, there was no sign of snow at all.  But when I got out of the car to open the gate the wind was icy and blowing hard.

It took me a while to force myself away from the warmth of the woodburner out into the cold to run.  By three o' clock in the afternoon I knew that if I didn't get on with it darkness would fall and the day would be gone.  I stuck my nose out of the kitchen door.  The wind was still blowing straight from the north.  It must have taken about ten minutes to put all my layers on: my running bra, then a long sleeved vest and leggings sold in Aldi as a layer for ski-ing, over them a long sleeved t-shirt and jogging bottoms, then a fine fleece, and finally a thicker fleece, gloves and a neckwarmer.  It sounds like the Michelin man but because each layer in itself was quite thin it was much less bulky than I had thought.

This last run of week three was nothing like as good as the earlier two.  It was cold and I couldn't seem to find my stride but I chugged on, admiring the snowdrops shaking in the wind.  I had put the remains of a chicken into water and left it simmering when I went out to make chicken stock for soup.   The idea of home made chicken soup kept me going as I jogged on in the cold.   I decided that I would just have to be pleased that I had done it today and hadn't allowed the cold to keep me inside.


So there we go, week three is done.  I think I am a very tiny bit fitter although the scales are not showing much movement in a downwards direction.  I made the mistake of looking at what is involved in next week and finding that the amount of running really ramps up.  I did a bit of gulping about that but eventually decided that this programme has been very carefully and seriously put together to get unfit people off the couch so, if the app thinks it is possible, it must be possible.   Can you tell here that I have been giving myself a talking to? 

And now to slice some leeks and make the soup.  That should be a fair reward for not hiding away inside today.   I still don't know whether I can do it but every time I tick off a week surely it becomes just a little more likely?

And in other news I have finished knitting this cowl with wool given to me by one of my daughters for Christmas.  I love it.  I may have to cover the whole house in sheep.