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Hello, so I'm on week 6, but finding it increasingly difficult to haul myself out of the door on freezing cold, wintry mornings. This is partly because of the darkness and cold, but also quite a lot because I'm a 23 year old girl and running through the park in the dark scares me a bit, especially round about where I live. Let's just say it's the sort of park that is familiar to people who like to sleep rough and take drugs. I've had a few unsavoury types approach me on my runs and even though in the early morning most of the people I see are friendly dog walkers, it's not quite enough to make me feel totally at ease. I'm sure nothing would happen, but I still feel a bit wobbly sometimes!

So what I'm wondering is, does anyone have any tips for how to combat the less-than-perfect conditions? My (very) long-term plan is to get a dog to run with me, which I think would make me feel a bit less alone, but in the meantime does anyone have any advice for how to feel more confident about running in the dark? And what about the cold? Are hats and gloves comfy to run in, or the way to madness?

I would appreciate any thoughts at all! Oh, and I work 9am-6pm in Scotland, and it's dark pretty much all the time I'm not at work, so I can't just run in the daylight unfortunately though I do run at weekends during the day and that's nice!

Hi Toadie

I have put some thoughts down on the 'running in the cold' bit on my thread 'Go Me'. Regarding the feeling safe aspect -could you perhaps stick to road/pavements under street lights etc?

Ahh brilliant, thanks! It looks like 'under armour' is actually what it's called - I might have to get some, it looks like just the thing for keeping cosy. Also you make a very good point about the clocks going back - that should hopefully buy us some more light in the mornings, for a little while at least!

I will try to stick to well-lit paths, but it's a tad annoying as I'm just at the stage of running now where I want to explore more adventurous routes! But I suppose I could always do that on weekends in the daylight... I think I will invest in a little hat and gloves, too.

I never thought it would be a problem that I want to run *too much* and need to figure out how to do it, hahaha...