Getting Better, Looking Forward

Thursday: A very difficult night sneezing and coughing, not much sleeping. But somehow, I managed to drag myself out of bed this morning and get to the park. A bottle of Lucozade got me through a short session today. I planned on covering a certain route which I thought would take me 15mins. This was to figure out how much distance I was covering in running alone, as all my times have been inclusive of warming up and walking periods. Thanks to fetch, I calculated I covered 1.34miles in 14mins 38secs, which is useful to know where I am at. After running, I walked to cool down and unusually for me, I sat down for a while, but I wish I had kept walking, as when I got up from the bench, my legs started to give way and I found it difficult to get to the car. At home, my usual cure for oncoming low blood pressure (2 boiled eggs sprinkled with salt, or just the 1 in mild cases) helped enormously. Felt very tired today, still the occasional sneezing fit, but lots of hot drinks and sticking a towel over my head have been amazingly helpful. My program advises one 20min run for this week, whilst my online trainer would have me doing 30mins very soon, which exceeds what the program sets. It's all very interesting, advice can conflict sometimes and I am in deep thought about my progress to date and where I want to go. I weighed myself today and I discovered I have lost ten pounds since I started running, which is welcome news and motivating, too. The 15min runs take everything I have, and more sometimes, and right now, I am wondering how to beat that, but knowing the weight is coming off (albeit slowly), that pushes me forward. A sleepless night due to being unwell meant I had time to think a lot and the Salford Run feels daunting, I feel I need to train more to be satisfied I'll be ready. The route isn't online but the park has some steep gradients to climb (steep by newbie runner levels) which I struggle with. I am thinking of putting in extra running time to build up my confidence in my running, I am beginning to feel more competitive about it, and hopefully this time next month, I should be making real progress towards my races.