Running in the Dark

Tonight was my third and final run of "Week One" of my training program and my first ever evening run.

I came this close to not going. I had a list of reasons (excuses) as long as my arm- i drank exactly one more glass of wine than is sensible last night and almost instantly regretted it as we had a disturbed night with both boys waking up at various intervals and then a 6.30am start and out the house at 8.30am to drop Chris at work. I was back in my pyjamas by 10.30am.

Then as the day wore on and the temperature dropped and my energy levels faded the idea of summoning enough to go out running, that is, actually running outside- seemed impossible. Then there was teatime and i felt all full and heavy and very much like getting in to bed and not at all like getting dressed and going for a jog. In fact i almost fell asleep after reading Toby his bedtime story and that would have been the end of that but i managed somehow to pull on a ridiculous ensemble of clothing (bolstered by the fact it would be dark) and knowing how bad i'd feel about myself if i didn't go, off i went.

I ran (no pun intended) into several difficulties that i hadn't encountered on my first 2 runs- first up it was dark. I know, no shit sherlock, dark at 7.30pm in the middle of actual winter- who'd have thunk it hey?! ;) But really, i wasn't expecting the dark to be as much of a problem as it was. I couldn't see much at all in terms of the pavement i.e. where was bumpy/icy/dog shitty. Also there were more people about than i'd expected and none looked particularly jogger-friendly, or indeed, friendly full stop.  One of my "90 second brisk walk" sections unfortunately timed up with me walking between the pitch black playing fields/park with no street lights/traffic or passers by so i decided to be a rebel and do an extra run instead- and a pretty fast one at that ;)

I also once again had to change my planned route that i'd come up with in my head before i set off. On Sunday i had to change course midway through because of the snow. Tonight it was because the bottom of Broom Lane appeared to be on fire or something?! Well it was closed off and there were fire engines and police cars and a diversion and such anyway.

Overall i definitely prefer morning running but i have to be flexible as there will be times, like today when because of work and other commitments it will come down to running in the dark or not running at all.

So now i'm going to have a well deserved cup of tea whilst humming "Daniel" by Bat for Lashes (fellow fans will get the reference there!) And leave you with my training stats so far-

Week One

First Ever Run
I tried to track using Runkeeper but for some reason it didn't work so no stats :( I then started using Endomondo and the next two runs tracked without a hitch...

Run Two
Distance: 4.27km
Duration: 37 minutes
Average speed: 6.93km/hr
Calories: 326 kcal (Just including these for fun/curiosity, it's not really relevant!)


Run Three
Distance: 4.37km
Duration: 35 minutes 53 seconds
Average speed: 7.30km/hr
Calories: 341 kcal