Running for twenty minutes: is this even possible?

I was on a real high after run two of week five, having achieved two runs of eight minutes each.  The next run was meant to be twenty minutes long.  How could that be?  And yet while I was daunted I was also really interested to see whether I could do it.  The Couch to 5k programme hadn't let me down yet so maybe, just maybe, it was doable?  After all they would hardly set people up to fail would they?

So I was all ready for Thursday last week and what felt to me like the breakthrough between trying to learn how to run and actually running.

And then it snowed.

It looked very beautiful but it did not look like the kind of conditions I could run in.

I thought I should do something to try to keep the fitness going so I had a go on our exercise bike.  I only managed about ten minutes.  I don't know what it is about the exercise bike but I really hate it.  I find it intensely boring and it feels intensely useless.  If I am outside I can look at my surroundings, listen to birds, see if anything is managing to come into flower.  Inside on the bike I look at the wall and feel like stopping.  So that wasn't much good.

On the next day Ian and I walked up to the top of our road to see what the snow was like on Penycloddiau and that was more of a workout  and much more enjoyable.

And then at the weekend we went to visit some friends and, although I could have taken my running shoes, I didn't.  To be honest it didn't even occur to me.  Clearly I am not a real runner yet.

But this morning showed a green world with all the snow gone.  We went to yoga and as soon as we got home I went down to the river to have a go at the run.

I was not at all sure that I could do it and had mentally prepared myself for deciding to do a repeat of the second run of the week if I was struggling but I didn't want to.  I wanted to give it a go.  I decided that I would commit myself to running for ten minutes because I was pretty sure I could do that having done the eight minutes last week.  Then, if I was really struggling I could have a break and do another ten after walking for three or four minutes.  But when I got to ten minutes I was going OK so I kept on.  By the time I had done around thirteen minutes my legs were beginning to feel tired so I gave myself permission to stop at fifteen if I needed to.  When I arrived at fifteen minutes I decided that my legs were no more tired that they had been at thirteen minutes so I might as well carry on and see if I could get to the end.  And I did!  I was slow I am sure but I did it.  And afterwards I felt so chuffed with myself.

I am pretty sure I am going to get to the end of this programme now, health and absence of injury permitting.  I am quite close to being able to tell myself that I enjoy running.  I certainly enjoy the sensation of having run.  Who would have thought it?