For some reason I'd totally forgotten to report my mishap at the start line of the HPTT last Saturday morning.

I'm a bit of fidget when waiting to start - I tend to re-tie my laces, pull up my socks and sometimes re-tie the string holding up my shorts. On this occasion I was sorting the shorts, when I noticed there seemed to be an unusual amount of slack in the string. I gave it a gentle pull and the whole lot came out in my hands in two pieces.

Two minutes to go, and I'm worrying that my shorts will be round my ankles after a hundred metres.

To cut a long story short, it was fine. They're lycra-type shorts rather than the baggy sort, and although I have lost weight there was still more than enough for the shorts to cling on to. If nothing else, it's given me an excuse to buy a nice new pair that matches my funky lime top.

The end-of-He-man-episode-type moral of the story is clear - don't be a fidget on the start line.

Yesterday I got my 5k PB down to 26:55, down from 28:03 a few weeks ago. In terms of my training, I'm able to go a bit further and get out a bit more often than before. So that's good, everything is going in the right direction still. I'm feeling more and more confident about my first 10k in June... if I'm honest I'd run it tomorrow. My current big goal of running 10k under 57 minutes (my 2004 10k time) feels within reach already - a goal I wasn't previously expecting to meet this year. It'll require a lot of work, but I have plenty of time to train before my 'first' 10k in June (Run for All in Leeds) and there are at least three other 10k races I'm doing this year after that one to try and make the time.

Yesterday's 5k seems to have taken a bit more out of me that usual. I've been feeling a bit under the weather recently and I can tell from my resting HR that things aren't quite right. My legs felt especially tired last night, and again this morning. I intended to go out for a 10k slower run at lunchtime (after watching the FLM coverage) but only managed 6k. It's a while since I've curtailed a run, and I knew my legs were still tired, so it's not so bad. It's an inevitability. That said, after spending hours watching FLM it seemed wrong to stop. It's as if I want it, but don't want it enough. Sometimes its hard to take things steady. I have to remember that it's a long journey that I'm on - a marathon, not a sprint (metaphorically, if not literally).

The best way I've found to dispel these sort of thoughts is to think back to January, when I started out. I really struggled with, well, everything. The horrendous picture of me in the HPTT from January (see my pictures) also helps illustrate where I was when starting out. I've come on quite a way since then and that's the important thing to remember when I'm unsure of what I'm doing. Incidentally, yesterday I uploaded a new pic from a few weeks ago. I can't believe the comparison with the January pic even at this early stage.