First outing for the Ruby Slippers

Thursday is here again, and that means mid-week run with Hannah time. Except she's slacking off and has gone snowboarding somewhere in the Alps. As such I would need to go out on on my own.

So far I've not run mid-week solo for fear of getting run over in the dark. Today though, I managed to get back from work a bit early (or bang on 4.24pm if you're reading this, Boss) so I had the chance to get out before the sun went down. It will be some time before Hannah and I manage this, as she doesn't seem to get back from work until after 6.30pm.

As this was my first outing in my ruby slippers, I tried to follow the advice of the girl that set me up with them in the shop and to not do the laces up too tight. From what she was saying, I do my trail shoes up too tight, but if it feels comfortable and doesn't cause me issues, she said to carry on that way. With this in mind, I did the shoes up a bit looser than normal and set off for a little trial 5km run.

Hang on, I hear you say! A little 5km run?! What happened to the lazy bugger that started all this a touch over 4months ago? To be honest, I'm not 100% sure where that bloke has gone either! OK, I do still eat more chocolate and biscuits than is probably wise, but that aside I do feel like a much fitter, healthier version of me. It's also nice to see the gut shrinking away! I doubt a flat stomach is going to happen, but as long as I all wobble in the same direction, then that'll do!!

Once my feet had warmed up a bit, it became apparent that I had done the shoes up too tight after all. I held off undoing them until the end of the 2nd Km to save me having to do it again. At first it felt a little bit weird, but as I got to the turn around point, everything seem to settle down and feel much better. It may have helped that I was now running with the wind at my back too!

This all made the return leg feel a lot easier than the outward one. It turns out this was reflected in the run times too.

Whilst I had hoped the turning point I had picked would make the run 5km, it seems I was a little bit shy of 2.5km. I'll fix this next time out by running to the next field gate. Overall, I'm really pleased with the time today. 5:35mins/km is my quickest solo pace! I've gone this quick before, but only when being made to follow Hannah. If I hadn't stopped to let a tractor past and hack something delightful up at the 0.75km point, I think I may have made it under 5:30mins/km. So that'll be next time's target!

The new shoes have been a very worth while investment. Road shoes aren't the cheapest of things, these were £90, but the difference in how my feet feel is night and day. It barely feels like I've been out as I'm used to having slightly sore feet and blisters forming. Today I've got none of that, so thank you to the girl in the shop!!

And I don't care what anyone says, they're just really bright red!!