Lost in Windsor, 7 miles @9:53. 10k in 1:01:26

I'd planned a different post about 15 minutes into this run.  I was in Windsor for a conference type thing, and stayed over the preceding night.  So I had plenty of time for a run in the morning.  Opted for a 5k run around the outside of the grounds, altering the easy route slightly to go through the deer park.  It was a long mile uphill, then a really nice early morning run through the park, with bellowing stags and everything. 

I got an inkling that something was wrong but kept going anyway, until after about 4 miles I looked at the little map thing on my GPS watch and discovered I was about as far from the start as I'd been.  So I kept running, using a combination of GPS watch and guesswork to trek back along roads to the start.  The whole journey was about 9 miles.  I ran the first 10k (I've run 10k!) and then another mile or so of the rest, walking mostly.

So, I've run a lot further than I've run before.  My hips really hurt later in the day with a lot of standing around, and my knee still feels stiff.  The longest I'd done before was 4.5 miles, so it was a big increase.  I'm glad I've done it, as it shows that I can, and it would have taken me a long time to work up to it.  I might try longer runs now as part of my routine - not as much as 10k though!

Belfast PB - 27:12 @ 8:45

I didn't write about my best time to date - 27:12 for 5k in Belfast on the 31st August.  It was flat, along the river, and a chilly day, which kept me going.  I'm not sure how I went 20 seconds a mile quicker than before, but I guess these factors are involved.

Makes me feel good to realise that today's run @9:00 is the second fastest on this distance - the only times I've gone quicker (since my garmin, but I think it's true in general) are the Belfast run and short sprints.

A nice run in London, 5k@9:00

I write as I cool down from a really nice run in London.  Sweat still beading on my brow.  I'm staying at Westminster, and ran over the bridge and up to Buckingham Palace through St James Park, and then bumbled around Green Park a bit.  I really like Green Park - slightly bumpy, lovely trees, open space.  Smells of Outside, rather than of London.  Surprising how much of a difference it makes, compared to my usual running along the river which is much better than along roads, but not great.

I've not written for a little while because I have a new check in mechanism with my garmin which gives me loads of interesting info to play with.  Particularly on my mind at the moment is two goals I set recently - one to run 25 miles in a month from mid August, and then a tougher target of a mile a day during September.  I'm paying attention to these, I think in part because they're being genuinely tracked through my device.  The mile a day is interesting because I try to run 2-3 times a week and usually intend to do 5k (3 miles).  If I achieve this I'm doing about a mile a day.

My first target is nearly there - if I do 2 miles tomorrow or the next day I'll be fine.  I've fallen behind on the September target though so will be doing a lot more running this week while I'm in London.  So I'm very pleased that I enjoyed today so much!