First a little bit of back story.... I am a new runner of about 3/4 months and have been running in my village, at first about 12/13 mins and then I experimented for varying times 30 mins /45 etc..oh and one hour and a half run which was actually a result of me becoming lost in the local woods, but thats another story. Anyway I settled on a route along the lanes which I roughly calculated with the help of my cars trip meter as 3 miles.
The times were chipped away and my fittness improved -untill the great day --yeah 22 mins-- a great result, woot ! 22 mins for 3 miles I was really pleased and motivated !
THEN.... google earth reared its head. What fun I thought I shall measure the EXACT distance of my run using the path/measure tool.
AHHHHHH....... my run, my beloved route, the place of my finest personal triumphs is not 3 miles but rather 2.5 !
I mapped a new route and ran again toady on a true 3 mile run and oh dear .....
not 22 mins anymore but 27
A whole 5 mins slower then I thought. I thought, just for a moment about not bothering anymore, then decided to treat this as a new challenge and a new bench mark to measure myself against and who knows maybe one day I may really make that 22 mins !
Any advice on how to deal with sets backs of this order will be as always appreciated.
Sho.

I think that's still good. That equates to a 10k (6 mile) time of around the hour which is respectable. You're doing it instead of sitting in front of the telly that's the main thing.

I think you are doing really well and should give yourself a break. If you put too much pressure on yourself you will start to hate your runs and are more likely to give up - you want this new fitness regime to be for the rest of your life don't you and not just another phase?

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Run Eddie Run

I think that's fantastic. You're making good time regardless, and that 5 mins is nothing.

Just stay determined and keep at it. Being out running is better than sitting on your butt in front of a TV...

Keep up the good work Shotoku.

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The Virtual Runner
Where is he now?

Went out again today and ran 30 seconds faster,I am pleased about this and will continue to train on 3 miles for a while and now have 25 mins as my new goal! Thanks for the posts - they have helped me keep going!

Made my target - 24.54 today ! Took awhile to reach as I'm now back at work,but now I gotta try to hunt down that 22 mins !

Hi there, i think its good to have a time in your head that you want, im very much the same. Drill my husband for hours after iv run if its a bit slower than i wanted.
But iv also learnt that if i focus so much on times i forget to enjoy what im doing running. Its an achievement in itself that we can and do get up and go out running, pushing ourselves as well is good. As long as we dont forget to enjoy it.
I must listen to myself more often hahah Hayley

That's great... well done, keep chipping away at that time