And there are quite a few as it turns out, more than I had expected really. Or more options for terrain and distance at least. But I finally settled on a route that wasn't too long or too strenuous for my first time solo. As I had no idea how well I'd be able to pace myself I just wanted to have a successful first go out rather than try for a record breaking one. So I decided to run down to the local reservoir, do a loop round it and then head back up the hill to home. The reservoir is somewhere we go to walk our son as it's a good place to go and watch the sailing boats, fishermen and local bird life. There is also our local wind turbine to watch go round and round and round and round..........
As I don't have a Smart phone, in fact it barely even counts as a phone now a days, I don't have anything as handy as a running app to log my route or time. I just looked at the time when I left and then again when I got back. The route I can map afterwards to get a pretty good idea of the distance, as well as a rough idea of an expected time.
So my time was, roughly, 42 mins for a 3.75 mile course with the usual sprint finish. Given the average pace of 11 mins 12 secs a mile, I'm quite happy with that for my first go on my own. I had feared I would either go out too hard and ruin myself, or not push hard enough and take all day over it. Whilst I do feel I could have gone a bit faster as the ground was fairly good, or a bit further, I think I got it right for today. I know what pace I can manage and I can start to build up to putting in another 1.7 mile lap of the reservoir.
I just hope it's a little warmer next time, as it was a tad chilly in the shade under the trees!
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