I went out in the dark (that way I figured if I met anyone I knew whilst out on my route they'd either not realise it was me - self conscious - and because it was dark they wouldn't be able to see how shagged out I was!

I started off pretty well, but I think much too fast, as within a few hundred yards, I was starting to hurt. I'm a fairly heavy sort of bloke - 15st 10lb (220lb) - and the impact of each stride quickly took its toll. My quads soon began to hurt right above my knees, and muscles, tendons and ligaments complained at me for being used in ways they simply weren't used to! I walked for a while, then as soon as I felt I could, off I went again. Rinse and repeat until I arrived home again. It's perhaps worth mentioning that I find breathing whilst running quite tricky - again, my own weight seems to force the air from my lungs on impact of each stride, and is something that I'll get used to with practice I guess.
I probably ran somewhere between a third and a half of the route, and walked the rest. My cardio fitness has improved a fair amount of late - what with all the stationary bike work I've been doing (and hopefully will be getting out on my bike on the road too now that spring has nearly sprung), but running was a real challenge for me.
This was Thursday night, it's now Saturday morning - the only after effects seem to be a fair amount of stiffness in the muscles up the front of my calves and a little at the top of my instep - nothing more than a dull ache though, and better than I expected.
I had a chat with a mate in the pub about all of this last night- the first thing he said was 'are you taking too long a stride'? and that's exactly what I'd been thinking myself. I lope along as I'm tall - almost 6'2, going far too fast and running out of steam too early. He suggested I should consciously aim to shorten my stride and make my running more efficient, which seems to tally with my own thoughts.
Whatever, I shall be giving it another go (probably tomorrow evening) and will build up some resilience to the impact, and a little more endurance- next time the goal is to run a greater percentage of the course! Like any new exercise, my body needs to get used to it- especially as I'm not a teenager anymore (and that very point is all the more reason to be doing it, no?).
I'm not planning to do any long distances, so building up to a mile or two once or twice a week is a goal that should be within my grasp I think!