Lazy is as lazy does and recently I’ve been very lazy. I haven’t run in a whole week which is poor.

There’s a couple of reasons for this that I’ve used to justify my slackness to myself. Firstly I did plan to run over the weekend but a hangover and helping a friend move flat put a stop to that. Then on Monday I was away for the day and then forgot to wash my kit for Tuesday. It’s now Thursday and, after a week off, it’s difficult to motivate myself.

These are all rubbish excuses and not the real reason for my laziness. Every week throws up unexpected events that are difficult to plan runs around but until now I’d found time for running. The real reason for the week off is that last Thursday really knocked my confidence.

I ventured out on the streets where I live to gradually introduce more ‘real’ running into my routine. It didn’t go well. After a week of putting in 30-minute sessions in the gym I was disappointed with limping home after just 15 minutes. This did include a big hill but also two short walking sections.

In short, my confidence in being able to run a whole 10K has taken a nosedive, especially as the 10K has a big hill in it.