The Schoolboy Squirrel 10K

Another Saturday morning run and another 10K under my belt and I feel great.

I took a completely different route this morning along a road called the Avenue of Remembrance which is a horse-chestnut tree-lined straight road leading out of Colchester.

There was a news report on the radio this morning about the lack of Conkers at this years National Conker Competition. They should come to Colchester! The pavement is littered with broken Conker shells and nuts all per the place. It was a challenge not to step on one of the sharp spiky cases the nuts come in. I then had to negotiate the squirrels who were harvesting the nuts and the plethora of school boys collecting them for Conker competitions at school.

This made for a fun run as it gave me something new to focus on. The road is busy with traffic one side but it is all farm and country side on the other (it's the farm that separates the main part of Colchester with where we live). This made for a rather idyllic run even it if was a damp October morning.

A friend of mine gave me a copy of Chi Running and I started to read it yesterday. I've only just got through the first third of the book but the tips and training have helped me this morning. I took the advice to relax and try to control my breathing and this helped me on my run this morning. It wasn't as cold as last weekend but it meant I wasn't bunged up and I didn't throw up. I also believe my new inhalers are working a treat as I wasn't congested this morning and apart from having to spit out a bit of excess water/fluid I felt fine all the way round.

I really did enjoy this mornings run. Sometimes I tend to dread moving from the brief walk segments back into the run segments but today I didn't let it phase me and I just carried on. I focused on my running style, listened to how I was running and kept my pace consistent and clean.

I added some new tracks to my running playlist and it was nice to hear these pop up every now and again. I will add these extra tracks to the playlist I have shared on Spotify. I have also uploaded the playlist to iTunes.

Fastest track of today's run was Magic by Sound of Arrows.

I ran a consistent cadence of 82 and ran an average of 6:25 for the duration of the 10K. I'm a little sore on my return but I have cooled down properly and genuinely feel that I have had a good run. I'm not aching and I'm not tired, I'm happy. In fact I finished my running with a smile on my face.

It seems a bit sadistic to admit it but I found myself singing along and smiling to some of the music that was playing whilst I was mid run. Thinking about it I was pretty much relaxed all the way around. More so then I think I have ever been before.

Like my friend Enda said on twitter this morning “we've become those people who run weekend mornings” and I am very happy I have as it has a transformative effect on my well-being and my weekend.

All this whilst running for the longest, the farthest and the most consistent pace I have ever run. I think I have right to be happy with my progress.

Apart from the personal benefits and pleasure I am getting from all this training, please remember I am running for charity and I have already raised £1,130 for Alzheimer's Society and £45 for the local Cancer Centre. Please stop by my Justgiving pages and sponsor me as much as you can for these worthy causes.

Now to enjoy the rest of our weekend and its a special one as my baby and I celebrate the 6th Anniversary of our Civil Partnership on Sunday 🙂