Best run yet – three miles without stopping

Real breakthrough tonight as I managed not only to go out and run on compacted ice for three miles, but managed to do it without stopping once.

In terms of my running ability this is nothing short of a quantum leap forward which has made me almost deliriously happy, which I do appreciate is not a state many people who know me would recognise.

Conditions more suited to bobsleigh than jogging

 The freezing temperatures didn’t put off that many committed runners (a hardy bunch whose number I feel I can now count myself among) as plenty of people were up on the Downs or trudging round the streets of Clifton, gleaming with the street lights’ orange glow bouncing off them.

It probably wasn’t actually a very good idea and I did spot a rapid response ambulance car parked up close to the water tower, presumably in anticipation of some idiot, much like myself, attempting to run on what was now compacted snow with an underlay of ice and a topping of early evening frost.

I almost wondered whether they might not pull up alongside me and explain to me just how much tax payers money I could soon be needlessly costing the NHS with several broken bones to mend.

However, I have a feeling it was almost because of the conditions that I had such a good run. It was clearly important to take it easy and as such I managed to get a good steady pace going and after about a mile or so everything just felt like it was working like clockwork. A very slow clock granted, but even so, ticking along nicely I was.

Bit cold out

 Now, three miles round the Downs is obviously not a full marathon, but tonight was the first time I could just hit the road and keep going at my own pace and if it wasn’t for the fact that I am aiming to hit five miles this weekend, I honestly feel I could have just kept purring along for another couple of miles..

I was almost convulsing with the euphoria that had washed over me as I just kept going, step after step, to the extent that I punched the air and leapt up a bit after finishing, as if I'd grabbed gold at the Olympics. 

It must be the first time I’ve been able to do that probably since the London Marathon in 2010. And in some ways the run tonight was just as important as that, because it confirmed to me that the training is working, the weight loss is helping and I’m getting fitter every week.  Get in!

And I managed to run at a faster pace than I walked last night, so that’s another little victory to chalk up tonight.