In training

Week 1, day 1 of my 24 week training plan done and dusted.
Jogging for ten minutes, followed by running for ten minutes.
Oh yes, I saw that one off, got that well and truly beaten, no problemo.
I wonder if the rest off my gruelling regime will be as straight forward? I doubt it. As first steps go, this is the first pinkie landing on the Rift Valley heading north.
It was a bit weird though trying to jog and then run, as I've never made a distinction between the two before.
So for my jog I slowed right down, which is harder than it sounds. I kept wanting to speed up as even stationary vehicles seemed to go past me.
Then I kicked into my 'run', which was not much faster than my jog, but my feet hit the ground a lot harder, so it seemed harder work.
It was okay to tell the truth, I wasn't exactly running as fast as I could, but definitely stepped it up a gear.
I managed not to gorge myself too much today either. Had a sensible breakfast, a sensisble lunch, a bit of a larey dinner and a cheeky little fruit yoghurt. So my diet is getting back to healthy, just about.
Had a bit of a setback today as I went for a Weight Watchers weigh in for the first time in a month.
I've put on five and a half pounds and currently weigh 16st 5lbs. But considering I've been on holiday and had a bit of an up and down sort of month, it could have been a lot worse. I've certainly been able to pile on a stone in the past so five pounds is no big drama. With another five training sessions to squeeze in this week I should be lose that by next Monday in any case.
There is such a long way to go of course, but as I was trotting round the Downs with the most gorgeous sunset setting the sky behind ablaze in violent oranges and pinks, I was reminded of something my friend Marc said at the weekend.
A former marathon runner himself, he said that the marathon is the six months training between now and April 25. The run on the day through London is the lap of honour. This is where the marathon starts, not at the gun in Greenwich, but on the Downs by the Water Tower, trying not to get annoyed at all the other runners whizzing past as I huff and puff for 20 minutes in the fading light (probably not alone in that up there).
I thought that was quite a profound thing to say, and the most amazing thing about it was that we were only drinking a cup of tea.