Training: a very slow 10K... but 10K nonetheless

In recent weeks, our garage has started looking like a second-hand bike shop as we've bought three bikes for our two girls (to go alongside the comically small ones they already had. To be fair, the first of those turned out to be too big for Daughter the 1st, hence the purchase of 2 more, but it was too much of a bargain to pass up, so she'll get it when she grows a bit.

Anyway, this has brought an unanticipated benefit for me, as it turns out that Daughter the 1st cycles at roughly the same speed that I jog; she's clearly no thrill-seeker. 😂 We've now twice been out for a ride/run together, but today's session was over an hour long. While there were moments in that when I was waiting for her to catch up and maybe a 20-second break when we initially stopped at 8K, that must be the longest 'continuous' run I've ever done.

Part of today's circular route, but this photo was taken in winter, not today

How did it feel? Totally fine up to around 7K, but then my left knee and hip started complaining, a bit like they had during the Allendale Challenge. (Remind me to never sign up for that again.) At that point, and largely down to the rain, an increasing need for the loo, and the fact we were missing lunch, we decided to call it quits. It was only when we got back to the house and the Daughter heard that we were close to 10K that she decided she would become my personal trainer and push us on to hit that distance. Really, it was for her achievement, not mine, but she enjoyed pretending to coach me. How could I turn that down? Sore knee or no, I had to carry on. 😄

Anyway, it's nice to get a genuine red splodge on my running calendar for once. In fact, I've rather neglected that calendar in recent weeks and months and it needed a lot of updating when I came to it tonight. Again, another indicator of how I've fallen out of my routine. But two runs in two days is a vast improvement on recent weeks, and with one of them being only my 3rd ever 10K run, I'm happy with that. I keep on saying it, but maybe it really is time I gave myself a target and booked another 10K event. Maybe that's all the motivation I'm lacking? 🤔

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