You call that running???

We are in our third week of the program and it is certainly not getting any easier. My trainers are still giving me troubles, although I am wondering if I am being too hard on them as it is only a little rubbing, or if I am bring too soft on them as I am only running for 30 minutes at the moment… what happens when we get to running for a full hour and more?

Other than the footwear we have also been struggling with our footing somewhat. In the program they make a big deal about the jump from 30 seconds to 1 minute of running (within the 30 minute walk/jog routine) and although it was difficult the first time we went up to 1 minute of running, by the second time we could both handle it with relative ease. The same when we upped our running time to 2 minutes, but now at the 3 minute mark we are both struggling. As I explained on our run on Sunday we could not finish all the runs, so too when we tried the run again on Wednesday, we simply could not complete the run. After the second rep we decided to lower our running time to 2 minutes for the last half of the routine.

Now I am looking at my schedule for the next few days and tonight and tomorrow are supposed to be 4 minute runs. We are almost at the stage where we are supposed to be walking and running for the same amount of time, and we cannot get passed the 3 minute blip!

Part of me thinks that realistically we should not try to do the 4 minute run, but instead keep working on improving the 3 minute run, but then I am scared that we will just get in a rut of 3 minutes and not progress any further.

Then I am wondering to myself, how on earth am I going to be able to solidly run for anything between 4 to 6 hours if I cannot even run 3 minutes? I am filled with self doubt, but then I know I am not the first person to start training for a marathon. This is possible, and I am counting on ending it with Jazz hands and a big smile on my face, but right now I have a nervous flutter in my heart that maybe I have bitten off a little more than I can chew. Again, thank goodness I have my sister doing this with me! Seriously when they tell you that you can never do these things on your own and you need a running/ diet buddy they are right!

Ok so I am going to stop beating myself up for today and instead I am going to skip the run tonight. Don’t worry I am just going to swap my rest day on Saturday with today. So tonight instead of running, I think I am going to just go for a long walk… before enjoying my first ever Thanksgiving dinner (I am English so I am being forced to go dressed as a red-coat).