I ran a little over 4.5 miles today (about 7.3 km). There was a cool breeze in the air. A light drizzle started soon after I left the house. I felt the tiny water droplets on my face as I ran. It felt refreshing.
This is the longest continuous run I’ve done so far since I started running in April this year. I was apprehensive prior to the run, but as soon as I hit the road I felt a wave of confidence rush over me. I listened to one of my favourite podcasts—The Cine-Files—while I ran, and tried not to look at my watch to see what my pace was or how many miles I had left.
A section of the loop I run in is along a busy road, with many vehicles driving past at speed at all hours of the day. I have to run over a few T-junctions as well, which I’m anxious to do each time. Drivers in Belfast are generally well behaved but you can never be too careful.
There is a park nearby, but it is quite small. On my longer runs, I loop through it once or twice, as I did today. I don’t like running through it when it’s full of people. Not because I’m self-conscious, but because I treat these runs as my alone time. Selfishly, I don’t like sharing the road with others.
My run today took just over 52 minutes. I want to work on increasing my pace, too, but that is secondary. Getting over the 10K mark comes first. Next Sunday, I will be running 5 miles (8 km). Not too far to go now.
