DW Runners

So I walked a 5K yesterday. 56:28, and too nearly last (out of about two hundred registrants, 139 of whom were walking) for the comfort of my pride. In an effort to salvage said pride, I picked up a book for beginning runners at the library (authored by the Sport Medicine Council of British Columbia, so I figure they know what they're talking about) that has a thirteen-week program, three sessions a week of run X minutes walk Y minutes repeat Z times (and the final session is run a 10K). I'm planning to start that Tuesday. Or maybe Saturday. (Y'know. Once I'm over the ow ow ow from doing too much in the 5K and without stretching properly first. I'm not sure what I was trying to prove but I don't think I proved it.)

My question is, should I run around the neighborhood or should I run on the treadmill at the neighborhood gym? It'll be easier to track time and distance on the treadmill, and walking the three blocks to and from will serve as a warm-up and cool-down, but the scenery is...not exactly scenic. Not that my neighborhood is a particularly pretty one, but at least the view changes as I move, you know? And I'm not sure which will bug me worse, repeatedly pressing a button to change the treadmill speed (I don't know if there's a way to change the speed on these treadmills other than by increments of 0.1 mph) or repeatedly changing and resetting the timer app on my tablet.

So treadmill sounds better at first blush, but I'm wondering if there are other reasons to prefer sidewalks to treadmills.

(Wish me luck, y'all, I'ma need it if I'm actually going to get and stick with the program this time...)

In week 3 the group collectively ran 143 km, but that's missing check-ins from quite a lot of people. This means we've covered 629 km in total, and we've just passed the port of Fishguard, ending up in roughly here in the Pembrokeshire National Park:



We have basically run round St Bride's Bay, which is the bit in between in between the two "fingers" in the SW corner of Wales. We have passed close by Skomer Island, where it's peak baby seal season just now. We've visited St Davids, the UK's smallest city. We've rounded the westernmost point in mainland Wales, Treginnis, and we're now running north-east along the Irish sea coast, with stunning beaches and amazing wildlife.

We've got a couple of extra days in week 4, and if people who didn't have a chance to check in this week report double mileage next week, we might just make it at least round the coast. As of Monday we have covered just over 50% of our goal distance. I am also planning to use our active hours to take a side-trip from Fishguard to Ireland by ferry :-)