OK So I have to start with an admission!  If you read SUnday's blog you'll know I'd said I was going to try and get annual leave from work that night and if I did I'd go swimming on Monday.  Well, I did get annual leave (yay!).  But I didn't go swimming (boooo!)  I have no real excuse either - I accidently set my alarm 2 hours early, so when I went off I fell back asleep, but I still was up in time to go swimming if I wanted!  My legs were a bit on the tired side, but not so tired that I couldn't have swum.  I'll have to put this one down to CBA syndrome (as I read on someones blog the other day!)

I didn't hold out much hope of today's run being any good.  For a start, I ended up going out last night, and although I didn't drink a lot, I had enough to get my other half to buy me burger and chips from the takeaway and I devoured the whole thing!  Not good!  I'm also going onto nights at work tonight so I'm never that keen on running before a nightshift (although in my experience it actually does make me feel better once I've done it!)  So I put on some loud music, psyched myself up and got out there!  I was also pleased to wear my lovely smart long sleeve purple running jacket which has hardly been worn.  I bought it when I first started running, and discovered that I could spend a fortune on running clothes and pretend that I really needed them all!  In actual fact I soon discovered that certain things make me feel better and therefore run better than others, so certain tops and trousers never get worn!  Anyway, although it was cold and rainy, after about 2 mins running I was, of course, boiling hot in my lovely smart purple jacket, so it was soon taken off and tied around my waist.  The aim for today was run 10 mins, walk 2 mins x3, which somehow I managed!  It was NOT easy - the second 10mins in particular I found a real struggle.  I looked at my watch after thinking I'd been running for about 8 mins and found that actually I'd done just over 3!  I managed to keep going though.  The third lot I told myself to go for 8 mins, and if I could manage 10 then that would be a bonus.  Well after 6 mins I figured that 4 mins wasn't that much more anyway so I may as well do 10!  So in total I did 30 mins running, which is the most I've done to date!  So I'm pretty pleased with that!  I'll next run on Friday when I've finished my nightshifts.

I'm off to the Lake District on Sat for a week with my boyfriend and his family so I'm not sure how running is going to fit in with that!  I'l def take all my things and hopefully I'll be able to get out 3 times.  Then the following week will be my 5k in Derby!  I'm really excited about it, but wish I had an extra week or two to maybe improve a bit more.  I'm chuffed though that between my Dad and I we've already raised £150 for Bowel Cancer UK, and hopefully we'll raise more before the event!

I hope everyone is feeling positive and enjoying running!