Time to Run 2013 :: part 1

Hello Lovelies,
this year has been a rather strange one so far. There have been several sources of worry for me. The biggest , but not only one , being mums health. Even though mum is now on the mend I have other things that are praying on my mind, disturbing my sleep. I hope that doesn't sound too dramatic.....I'm hopeful everything will work out fine...... I just wanted to try and explain my running motivation.

Back in January, with good New Year intentions,  I booked myself a place on three 10k runs and an Autumn half Marathon. I did the first 10k in March , then the second one, in June, was cancelled so I didn't need to train for that. Then Mum was ill and the weather got super hot . All in all I wasn't doing much running .....Just one or two short ( 2 mile ) runs a week.

When we were away last week my eldest asked about the  half marathon I booked a place on all those months ago. In my mind I had written it off as a no go....not this year.
But when I actually said " oh, I wont be doing it" it sounded so defeatist...I didn't like how I sounded.

When we got home I checked out how many weeks it was away....Eight.....ummm, maybe.
I've just been out for a 30 minute run....a proper run, not one of my run a bit, walk a bit, stop and take a few photos runs. It was hard, I was dripping with sweat when I got back, but it also made me feel good. I can still do it .

 There is time, just about ! to get up to half marathon distance by October the 20th.
Most importantly It's a positive thing I can focus on instead of things I have no control over.
 I don't want to do a fast time , just get round O.K.
 I'm roughly following THIS plan, but I'm not worrying abut the different sorts of runs, just clocking up the minutes and the miles.

I'm sharing my goals and any hiccups ( I'm sure there will be some ) here with you lovelies so it's harder for me to change my mind again. It really helps to motivate me to have this space to share my thoughts and experiences ....I'm often writing blog posts in my head when I run.

I hope some of you will be inspired. I know I loved Kate's running post. So much of what she said resonated with me and made me smile.

Running is hard, but it lifts my mood. I'm doing something positive for myself and I feel really alive.  And on race day,when you cross the finish line all the training and effort is forgotten and you just get a huge sense of achievement........ and this year, more than ever before, I need that.

On Saturday I need to do a 10k training run, that takes about an hour at my pace. It's further than I've run in many months....wish me luck lovelies.

Jacquie x

P.S hope you enjoyed the random pictures....I can't do a post without some colour:0)
P.P.S you can see my previous running posts by clicking on " running" in the  labels section in my side bar.