First outdoors run

I just did my first outdoor run. Well, my first outdoor training run. I have run outside before - in fact I've run the route I did today before. It's just more heavily laden with meaning now that I'm training for an actual marathon.

I ran from my house in Borough down to Bermondsey, along Bermondsey Street up to Tooley Street, down the river past Tower Bridge to Shad Thames and then back along the river to London Bridge, then home.

I covered 2.9 miles in 38 minutes. What's interesting (to me, I mean ... "interesting" is perhaps over-doing it a bit) is that I walked a lot today, but still did the same distance in exactly the same time as on the treadmill. This suggests that I'm running faster outside than I do on the treadmill, but get tired more easily and therefore need to walk more. I'm going to try and keep upping my treadmill speed next week.

It was a lovely day for a run. Clear skies and sunshine with a strong breeze. I'm really glad I went. But even as I was turning my face gratefully towards the sun, I felt a chill of foreboding for those February days when it doesn't stop pissing it down, and I'm going to be heading out for a 16 mile run. Eeek.

Meh

It wasn't a great run today. 4.8km in about 40 minutes, but I took pauses and walked a lot of it.

The ingredients of a good run were there. I was running in my friend's swanky gym, with the promise of a jacuzzi session afterwards. I'd eaten a good lunch (fish pie and peas, fact fans). I was listening to my POWER PLAYLIST.

But I still have this cold and I think my body just couldn't manage to be perky. My right ankle was hurting a bit too. Is there a stretch you can do for that?

Still, I did my 4.8km and I feel better for it. Really tired now so I'm going to sign off and get some sleep. Next run = 4.8km again, on Saturday, and this time it'll be al fresco...

Morning vs night time

I did another two miles on Wednesday (23 minutes) and two today (22 minutes). So I'm getting ever so slightly quicker.

Kind of like the way the continents are moving towards each other ever so slightly faster than they used to.

I've done two pre-work runs this week, and one, today, after work. I don't know what I prefer.

Going before work gives me a sense of achievement before 9.30am, not something I often have (in general, not just in the mornings). It means I can go off and scoff peanut butter on toast for breakfast with a clear conscience. On the downside, it turns my face the colour and texture of corned beef hash until about lunchtime.

Running after work I generally have a bit more energy. I'm more up for it. And the gym is emptier, so less chance of bumping into my colleagues. But it also means I immediately have a 30-minute walk home along the river in the dark, groping for my pepper spray and keeping on the alert for muggers and rapists.

Ups and downs, I guess.

POWER PLAYLIST time

OK, it's time to make a POWER PLAYLIST.

I really like music. I know that's a somewhat anodyne statement, like saying you like sunshine or chocolate. Woah there, trailblazer.

But I do, I've got a Spotify Premium subscription and everything. There aren't many situations in life for which I don't run to Spotify and create a new playlist. Parties! Bedtime! Popping to Topshop to take back that hat that looked really good in the changing room but feels stupid once you get home! There's a playlist for every mood.

So today I made my running playlist (and tested a small portion of it out on a run, by the way - 2 miles in 23 minutes).

It goes like this:

*Pass Out - Tinie Tempah
One - Swedish House Mafia (guess who still hasn't gotten over her holiday in Ibiza this summer)
Yeah - Boys Noize
Firework - Katy Perry (I'm not proud of myself)
Judas - Lady Gaga
Only Girl in the World - Rihanna
*Lose Yourself - Eminem
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
Stronger - Kanye West
The Kids Aren't Alright - The Offspring
*Flux - Bloc Party
*Rockafeller Skank - Fatboy Slim
Kids in America - Kim Wilde
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
Who's That Chick - David Guetta
Like a G6 - fuck knows, some one hit wonder
Run to You - Bryan Adams
Lust for Life - Iggy Pop
*Derezzed - Daft Punk (this is AMAZING, I need to find a longer mix of it)
Rock That Body - Black Eyed Peas
Sky and Sand - Paul Kalkbrenner
Yeah, Techno! soulwax Mix
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You - Black Kids
Ghosts N stuff - Deadmau5
Riverside - CDM Project apparently, who knew?
Our Velocity - Maximo Park
*Moar Ghosts N Stuff - Deadmau5
*I Need Air - Magnetic Man
a whole load more Black Eyed Peas tracks I can't be arsed to type out
Hey Ya! - Outkast
*Rock Star - NERD (Jason Nevins remix - this is important, the original is NOT a good song to run to. It's a bit like when Fatboy Slim remixed Brim Full of Asha by Cornershop and it suddenly became a great song)
Doctor Pressure - Mylo
That's Not My Name - Ting Tings
Fruit Machine - Ting Tings
Bounce - Calvin Harris feat Kelis
We are the People - Empire of the Sun (Wawa Club remix)
Lights On - Katy B feat Ms Dynamite

Let's face it, that's way more music than I currently need on a single run. I've asterisked (not Obelixed) the ones that I really like to run to. Any suggestions for other good songs are welcome. No Radiohead/similar please. This is music to make you run really really fast, not to make you reach for the diazepam.

I also bought this handy gizmo to hold my iPhone so that I can take it out running and not have to hold it in my sweaty mitts.

Watch out Paula

So I did my first run today. It felt pretty good. I did 2 miles (3.2km) in 25 minutes and 25 seconds.

I know what you're thinking: WOW. Just wow. At that speed, I'll be breaking the six hour mark. Ok, it's a tad slower than I'd imagined. I probably need to speed it up a bit. Not yet, but eventually.

One thing someone told me yesterday is that when you run on a treadmill, you have to set an incline. If you leave it at 0%, it's basically just like skipping downhill. You have to put it up to 1 or 2%.

So that's what I did today. It wasn't terrible. Not as easy, sure, but not dreadful. Not like hiking up a hill. Just a little bit harder. More like running outside in the real world.

I think I'm going to try and do my Sunday runs (the longer ones) outside each week to get a realistic idea of what it's like running outside. I'll stick to the treadmill for my weekday ones.

And I need to work on a POWER PLAYLIST. Running to music makes a massive difference. You should have seen me when Tinie Tempah came on my iPod - I mean, wow! I was able to run ... ever so slightly less slowly.

One down, 89 to go.

Getting my shit together

OK, so first things first.

Trainers - check. I've got quite decent trainers, actually. They're a couple of years old, but not exactly well-used. I got them in one of those fancy running shops where they film you on a treadmill and watch whether you over/under pronate, i.e. roll your feet in or out.

Sports bra - check. Essential. It's bright pink, it's from M&S. It holds my boobs still while the rest of me continues to jiggle.

Other sports gear - check. Kind of. Running in H&M leggings is fine, right? So what if you can see my pants through them a bit. I've got nice pants. I've got a great collection of baggy T shirts, mainly collected at gigs or stolen from my brother. I've got a long sleeve sports-type top, from the days when I had a brief flirtation with cycling to work.

Might need to get some gloves for the winter.

Treadmill - check. Free (teeny tiny) gym at work. Woop.

Roads - check. Central London conveniently has much tarmac to pound.

Training plan - hmmmmmm.

Googling has come up with lots of suggestions. One search result is a forum where a hapless would-be marathonner asks, "is it possible to train for a marathon in six months?"

Answers spread across huge range, from "I wouldn't say it's a great plan" to "you're an idiot". Not one single positive response.

What do you know, random running forum.

Back to the search. Here we go. This looks promising.

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/marathon-training-schedule.html

Lots of advice and what looks like a realistic plan. And I've even got a week to spare - result!

OK, first run tomorrow, 2 miles. I can definitely do that.

How I found myself signing up

About two weeks ago, an email came round at work.

"We have 10 places to run the London Marathon 2012! You'll be running for Shelter. Reply to this email to request a place!"

I gave it about 3.2 seconds' thought. Not exclusive thought either - I was also thinking a number of other things, like "my leg is itchy" and "I fancy a Snickers". And I hit reply.

"Yes please, I'd like a place."

That's all I said. And in those fateful six words, I sealed my fate.

You can imagine my surprise when a few days later I got an email back.

"Congratulations! Your place in the London Marathon 2012 is confirmed."

I sat staring blankly at the screen for a moment.

This was my thought process: 

Is this Spam? Have I actually signed up for something? Oh shit. What the fuck am I going to do now?

Obviously, I'll have to back out.

I mean, I'm not what you'd call the athletic type. I'm not fat, exactly, just a bit .... rounded. Sort of soft and squidgy. Rubenesque. I was one of those kids at school that loitered at the edge of the hockey pitch during PE and couldn't wait for it to be over.

I do go to the gym a bit. I can run, a bit. I did a 5k a couple of years ago. And I once jogged for an hour!

... that's not going to be quite enough, is it. A marathon takes more like five hours.

I can't possibly do it. No way.

I mean, ok, it is technically possible that I could do it. People do run marathons. All the time! There are probably people running a marathon right now. And some of those people probably thought they'd never be able to do it.

It'd just be a horrible experience. Not the marathon itself - that would probably be quite cool. You get to run the route of the Olympic marathon, after all. Finishing in the stadium. I've watched London before and it looks quite cool. There's loads of supporters in London. All my friends could come and watch.

But the training would be horrible. Having to be so ... healthy. All that exercise!

I'd probably lose a bit of weight, though. You can probably eat anything you want in the world when you're training for a marathon. Like bacon sandwiches, and McDonald's, and those green pistachio macarons from Paul. Mmmmm. And the calories would just melt away, what with all the running.

And if I'm going to do it, now's the time. I'm 28, I'm in ok shape.

And it'll show my Dad a thing or two. He used to run marathons all the time. I remember all the medals that used to be on display in our downstairs loo (until the day Mum put them in the attic). He was pretty darn proud of himself. He'd probably be quite proud of me too if I do it.

And it's still six months away. That's ages! I've got ages. Aaaaaaaaages.

Ok, let's do it.

And I wrote back: "Great! Thanks very much." And I filled in the registration form online and got my confirmation.

Done. I'm running the marathon. SHIT.