It's getting real

This past weekend was the first time that I visibly noticed such a difference in my weight loss. I knew that I had been working hard but as I see myself everyday seeing the changes in yourself can be hard.

Luckily I have a habit of taking photos of myself, usually when I have new clothes and I'm trying to make up my mind if I like them or not. When I was getting dressed on Sunday I picked out a dress that I hadn't worn for a while, I put it on and it looked different, I could actually see a waist! I remembered that I took a photo of myself in it when I first bought it, back in May, and I was shocked at the difference:

This has really spurred me on and given me confidence that what I am doing is really working. I need to understand that this is going to be a slow process, as it is a life style change, not a quick fix.

As well as the visual changes, I have noticed a massive difference in my performance when running. I have stuck to the agreement with Oli and am still running just once a week and this is just enough for me.

This week at running club we did an 'Out&Back' session, simply 15 minutes out and then turn around and beat your time back. I always used to be pretty rubbish at these and rarely enjoyed them as they are sessions where you need to push yourself. We did this session a few weeks ago and all together I ran 2.5 miles in 28:30, the point tonight was to beat yourself during the last session.

The route starts off at The Pump Rooms in Leamington and up The Parade, which is quite a long slow hill, a left and a right then onto the Rugby Road towards Warwick. We set off and both myself and my sister Helen were both in a bit of a grump and both with a headache so not in a mood at all for a challenging run. Helen is one of the leaders of Regency Runners, so is a pretty speedy runner with a 5k in the sub25 region, but at the moment is making her return to running after having a year off to have a baby, as it happens, with me getting quicker, we are both running at around the same pace, so we both had someone to push against.

The 15 minute run out felt really good, and I managed to get further than I ever had before (to the bridge, for any RR members that might be reading) which is 1.43 miles. We turned around and realised that we then had to run uphill again but we stuck together and kept the pace up. I have to be honest, had I been on my own I think I would have dropped back, but I wasn't sure if I was pacing Helen or if she was pacing me! The benefits of running up The Parade on the way out, hard as it is, is that you get to run down it on the way back, and to me, running down The Parade is ace fun, you can really build up some speed and carry that momentum on back to The Pump Rooms.

When we arrived back, I checked my watch and we had both done really well. For a hilly run, we ran 2.85miles in 29:45, so a huge improvement for me on the last outing and an even better one for Helen as she builds up her pace again. With my 5k race 2 weeks away, I'm getting confident that I may just get this sub30, and if not, then I know I'm going to be on for a huge race PB (my current one is 33:33).