What a difference a day makes!

I had a much better run today. Upped my distance back up to 3 miles for the first time since starting back at it.

AND! During my first few runs back I knew I had to be cautious and not go hell for leather so I was deliberately jogging, not running at any real pace. And today, I ran at a more normal pace and knocked a full minute off each mile! I'm down to nearer 10 minute miles again which makes my sub 2 hour goal for Cardiff feel a bit more achievable. I felt strong for nearly all of the run.

However, I still have the mad woman in my head. The mad woman whose response to being hot, sweaty and breathing heavily is "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!!!". She panics. It's like a reaction to being dangled off a very high cliff. She makes the conversations I have in my head while I'm running most interesting.

She's an assertive mad woman. I keep thinking that one day I'll run and she won't be there but she's pretty persistent. A friend asked me today if the running is getting easier. And of course, I am getting fitter, but I still have these insane debates where she screams "STOP RUNNING! YOU HAVE TO STOP!" at regular intervals.

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I would like to send a message to the several nice people I passed while running today. I think I may have scared them. So apologies. You see, I was actually trying to smile. But, as I've mentioned before on this blog, smiling whilst running is tricky - when it comes to a choice between smiling and breathing, breathing tends to win, hands down. So when I try to smile, it's a bit half-hearted, or rather half-mouthed. And I only seem to be able to spare my top lip for these smiles, which results in a sort of grimace that possibly looks like I'm about to stab them rather than smile at them. What makes it worse is that my top lip then sticks to my dehydrated teeth on it's return to it's natural position.

I've decided to practice the cool art of the runner's wave and nod combo instead.

I don't want small kids to have bad dreams.

TTFN.