I love running

After September's ups and downs, October has been a great month for me. I realised that I had been getting a bit (ok, very) obsessed with my times and that this was detracting from my running experience. I decided it was time to take the pressure off and just enjoy running for its own sake.

I still recorded my runs as I love to reflect on the stats but I stopped looking at my watch when actually running. I stopped setting myself targets for a particular run and thereby putting unnecessary pressure on myself. The effect of this? I began to enjoy my running again and even managed a couple of amazing and speedy runs!

Guildford 10k

I was not looking forward to this race. It was an out and back road course with an uphill start. So it was going to be both hard and boring. However, I needed an October 10k and it was local and lots of my friends were running it.

To further depress my expectations, I picked up a hamstring/ITB niggle at the gym on the Monday before the race. Oh, and it was forecast to rain. I also ran around 7km on the Friday and did parkrun the day before the race on Sunday so my legs were far from fresh.

I fully anticipated that I would need to walk part of the route and feared that I was risking my niggle becoming an actual injury by taking part. I therefore resigned myself to a slow time.

What actually happened was that I finished the race in 1:02:33, almost 2 minutes faster than my September 10k, and enjoyed every bit of it! The out and back course meant I saw loads of people that I knew which kept the race interesting. The uphill bits were offset by some lovely downhills. My legs felt strong and my niggle held off. And it didn't rain until after I'd finished!

The Guildford 10k has now become one of my favourite races and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Sub 30 parkrun

Fast forward a couple of weeks (with a Caribbean holiday in between) and I was back at parkrun after missing the two previous Saturdays due to St Lucia not yet having a parkrun.

We ran up and down the beach for 5k in lieu of a parkrun

The weather forecast was shocking, consisting of strong winds and rain. I had just started back at work and I had enjoyed a few glasses of wine on the Friday night. I decided just to get round and not worry about a time.

A few friends and I went to Ifield Mill Pond parkrun as my local run was cancelled due to fireworks. This is a relatively new parkrun; it was appealing to me because it was on tarmac paths and was flat. It also suited some of my friends who needed an "I" for their parkrun alphabet challenge.

Before the run - slightly damp

After the run - drowned rats

It was an unusual course with several out and back sections. As I was running with quite a few friends this provided a great distraction from the driving rain. It also meant a few tight turns which were not so ideal. Again, I didn't check my watch, but I did notice that my speedy friends did not seem to be too far ahead which boded well for a decent time. I also noticed that they all looked like drowned rats - it really was a grim morning. However, this did provide an added incentive to get the run over with!

My official time was 29:14, which was much quicker than I thought possible and I was thrilled. I spent most of the day annoying my other half by reminding him of my amazing time!

Lessons learned

• Running is much more fun when you take the pressure off.

• I love out and back courses.

• When you have low expectations and then have a good run, the high is amazing.

• I am in great danger of getting obsessed with times again and will have to try hard to avoid this.

• I love running.  I love running.  I love running.