Week Nine - Day 1

I had a running companion this morning – Rhona. Rhona can take full responsibility for me entering the half marathon. It was at an evening meal at her house that she persuaded me to enter the half marathon - and the rest is history. Although I have been training religiously, Rhona has had a few problems and not managed to get out running very much.

Although the start time of 6.30 am was a bit daunting, she managed to get up and meet me. We set off and for the first mile or so, gauged each other’s pace. Rhona started off slightly faster than I would have done had I been on my own, but once we had run a couple of miles we settled into a good steady pace, even managing a little conversation every now and then!

The scenery this morning was fantastic – we had low lying mist over the lake with the sun rising in the background. The orange glow it cast over the water was breath-taking – so much so, that I shall get up early tomorrow morning and cycle over to try and catch it on camera….

The bridge at the nature reserve is once again open, so we were able to go home that way rather than going through Ferry Meadows, which made a very pleasant change.

I really enjoyed running with Rhona, we were evenly matched and it certainly felt more enjoyable running with someone. I’ve mentioned to her that I shall be going out again on Wednesday morning, and she is going to let me know if she can make it. It’s a shame she is so far behind with her training, the longest distance she has run so far is 6 miles so the longer runs on Saturday are out.

Running with Rhona certainly improved my time for this run:

Time: 43:25
Distance: 5 miles