I have always been fairly active and love the outdoors. I am lucky enough to have a beautiful country park only 10 minutes away. For years I have had gym membership on and off but beyond swimming and Pilates or Yoga classes I just couldn't motivate myself to go and the class times didn't really fit in well with the rest of my day. Then about a year ago I started going out for short runs in the morning at weekends using to a Zombie version of a Couch to 5k app and although not a runner and having hated cross-county at school I found being out in the fresh air appealing. After a few weeks I was surprised to find I was starting to loose weight and I was not walking as much so decided to take up the suggestion of giving a local Park Run a go. I had never hit 5k up to this point so was a little nervous but I made it round in 34:09 which I was quite pleased with. Unfortunately lack of motivation to go out alone kicked in and my runs started to reduce.
By the end of last year my gym membership was seriously being under used so i decided to cancel it. By now I was attending a pole fitness class twice a week and was just coming to the end of a Groupon for Jazzercise. I was loosing the love for pole and had decided to carry on with the Jazz but felt I needed something else to do fitness wise.
The local running club were starting a couch to 5k in the new year so I though that would be a really sociable thing to do but typically the group clashed with the Jazzercise so I tapped the club up to find out how hard their regular club runs would be for someone who hadn't run for 6 months. The timing was prefect as the Couch 2 5k graduates from the last group were working towards 10k and I was reassured that there were all abilities. So after sunning myself in Thailand over Christmas and New Year I took myself to join the runners and did a whooping 6.5k on my first run. I was hooked on being outside and having people to run with and only 5 week in I was signed up to take part in a 10k at Milton Keynes Festival of Running eek!!!
Fast forward to the Monday before the big day and I was in bed by 8.30pm with a stinking headache and no energy at all. The following day I didn't get out of bed and slept pretty much straight through to the following morning, missing the club run and my last chance to hit a distance of 10k! By Wednesday I still felt lousy and was starting to think I would have to pay off all the sponsors I had received. Turning to a fellow club runner for advise I was promptly given another sponsor by her and so I decided I just have to run regardless. In order to prepare I proceeded to buy every superfood, supplement and herbal remedy there was to get myself well for the big run on Sunday.
The morning of the race I had my head over a big bowl of steaming eucalyptus desperately trying to clear some congestion before heading out to run. With a finishing time of 1:09:45 and a whole pack of tissues (and snot) lighter I managed to completed my first ever race and my first 10k without stopping once. I really can't believed I managed to get round! I had fantastic support from another club runner who I stayed with the whole route and the supporters along the way did a fab job at keeping us going. I am so proud and thankfully none the worse for running with the lurgy. I now have a shinny medal and a nice little donation for Macmillan for my effort. Roll on the next race coming up in June and fingers crossed my legs work for the club run!
Distance Run this Year: 73km
Next Blog... My Running Kit
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