A while back, I think perhaps over the Christmas break, Mr C and I discovered these crazy-cheap albums - 101 Running Songs and 101 Running Songs Lap 2. See what they did there? For less than a tenner, you’re getting 100 songs which is complete madness. You’re not going to like all of them, but who can argue with a price like that?

On the sequel album, there’s five continuous mixes of about an hour each, and I thought I’d give them a whirl this week. I very much enjoyed there not being any gaps in the music so I didn’t have to hear my erratic breathing, although I must say the songs are not so much mixed as just smooshed together (wasn’t expecting too much at the price, though).

It’s put me in mind of music mixes though, I like that there were songs I knew and songs I didn’t, not just a collection of tracks I’d picked out because I thought they’d be uplifting and if not that then at least bearable. I’ll be looking at other albums and podcasts in the future, I think.

Week 3, Day 1

Run 5 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 5.

A pretty decent run, considering this was a step up from last time. My knee hurt a bit by the end but it wasn’t too worrying.

Two things of note:

1. About a minute in, I was stopped and asked for directions. I don’t know how adversely that will have affected the average times but it certainly didn’t help!
2. Then about halfway through, I saw a bunch of people running towards me. It must have been some kind of running club and a) that was super embarrassing and b) it was also quite scary, a herd of people jogging towards you.

Still, I survived all of the above, and I might go so far as to say I almost enjoyed it.

Week 3, Day 2

Run 5 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 5.

A pretty mundane run, nothing amazing, but equally that is something amazing in itself because I think I have finally got past the “I am going to die” stage again. Phew!

It also looks like my pace was more stable, so I may not have been stumbling around like a fool. Hard to say!

My pace improved a little this time, and whilst I am not leaping about thinking I’m suddenly Usain Bolt, I am glad that it dipped below 10. For the last couple of weeks, it’s been stuck at about 10:05ish, and I was starting to wonder whether the app was broken!

Week 3, Day 3

Run 5 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 5.

Perfectly good run. Felt like I went off a bit fast at the start, but I’m not sure that’s reflected in the pace so perhaps it was in my head. Feet ached a bit towards the end, but otherwise no problems.

Next week we’re up to eight minutes at a time.