Monday 18 August 2014

A little about me, the beginning of running, Race for Life and a 10k in London. Eh? Who mentioned a 10k?!

Once upon a time, four friends sat in a garden discussing running. One of them had just recently run a marathon, one of them was in awe and the other two were drinking beer.

Well, the story went something along those lines, but it was that conversation which led to me putting on my running kit and giving it a go.

In my previous life as a school girl, I was a runner. I was good at sprinting and represented my school in a couple of 100m and 4x100m relay races. I was forced to run cross country and distance, but I didn't enjoy that as much as feeling full of power and running FAST! I was quite good at hurdles, and was scouted by a local hockey first team but I suffered a knee injury in Year 10 and despite painful physio, my sporty days came to an end.

During my pregnancy with E, I had severe SPD which carried on for a couple of years after giving birth. I was on crutches in the last trimester, and stubbornly refused the physio's advice to use a wheelchair.Several rounds of physio did no more than aggravate the symptoms, Chronic Pain Clinic scared the bejeezus out of me and I just could not accept that I would never move properly or be pain-free ever again. Luckily for me my closest friend's husband recommended an osteopath and he was an absolute miracle worker. I hobbled into his clinic room and walked out! With his help I went from strength to strength with almost no pain at all, and moving around perfectly. Relieved!

I tried running with another friend last year. She was training for a half marathon and I just couldn't keep up. My knee was painful, my head wasn't in the right place, I was terrified about my SPD pain flaring up and I gave up after a few runs. I knew I could do it if I tried hard enough; I had completed Race for Life twice before. Looking back on those runs, I was trying too much too soon, and I'm not surprised I found it tough!

This time I took a more sensible approach and downloaded the Couch to 5K (C25K) app and on March 30 2014 I went out on my first walk - jog - walk. I was very self conscious, very cold, and felt a bit daft walking. Something was different this time. Something had clicked; I had the determination and commitment to see the programme through. The app was incredibly easy to use and my husband urged me to keep on, and gave me a boot up the bum to get out of the door when I needed it.

I needed a goal to aim for, so I entered Race for Life. This gave me a date to be able to run 5k non stop and fitted in well with the timing of the C25K programme. I had no care for the time it took me to finish, but I wanted to run the whole way. No walking. No stopping.

I downloaded RunKeeper app which spurred me on. I could quickly see my improvements and this ignited the old, competitive me. I wanted to run faster, to go further, to do better and beat my times. I began reading about pace, about nutrition and hydration. How to improve your run. The only competition I had was myself, but that was all I needed.

It didn't take me 9 weeks to run 5k without stopping. In April I was able to run 5k in 35minutes. A few days later I ran with a friend, and despite planning to run no more than 5k I felt fantastic and we just kept going. And going. And going some more. I ran 4 miles in 48 minutes. I cheered myself on as we ran and burst through the door at home with the smile as wide as the Grand Canyon. My husband commented on how strong I looked, how radiant and well. The best he'd seen me in a long time.

The longer distances improved my stamina and naturally my speed. I stopped using C25K and run how I felt on the day. Sometimes I ran a short distance as fast as I could, another day I would relax into a longer run and enjoy the freedom that came with it. Logging my runs on RunKeeper meant that I could see my 5k time reducing. I had continued reading online about improving your run, and 'Sub 30min 5k' kept popping up. This was a goal to aspire to, and the competitive me started believing that I could achieve this. Little old me, once fragile and in pain, could be strong and fast. It almost seemed impossible to believe that my broken body could cope but I was so fired up that I went for it.

In the training for Race for Life I had just about managed to run a sub 30min 5k. This just pushed me on and competing against my own time, I wanted to do even better on race day. I had found myself a running buddy (known here as L), she was also new to running and we kept each other motivated. A random conversation with a friend of a friend in June led to me and L entering the Great British 10k London Run on July 13. The goalposts suddenly moved, and not only did we need to step up the training for a much longer distance, but we also needed to fundraise £300 between us.

The 10k was soon upon us, and we found ourselves walking down The Mall, infront of Buckingham Palace and preparing to start something neither of us had done before! We joined the SUDEP Action team, all wearing bright orange running vests! It was a surreal moment standing at the start line with the Military Wives singing on a balcony to one side of us and about 18,000 runners behind us. We had trained well, we were prepared and we ran the full distance only slowing to take on water and a few photos! L and I crossed the finish line, hand in hand and sprinting in 1:10.17. We raised £345 for a very worthy charity, and thank our family and friends for digging deep and sponsoring us. So, so proud!

On the morning of Race for Life, July 22, I proudly put my race number on, and on my back I dedicated my efforts to my Grandmother, my Aunt and my Great Aunt all who we had lost to breast cancer. It was a hard, hard run. The nerves got to me on the start line and I set off too fast. I was used to running with music and with a pace prompt from RunKeeper, but my iPhone decided to drop the volume so I felt totally lost. I was grateful for my sunglasses to cover the tears as I pushed myself in blazing hot sunshine! I crossed the finish line in 28mins 11seconds.  I watched my mum and daughters approach the finish and I could see that mum was battling hard against her own health problems so I ran to them, grabbed mum's hand and dragged her across the line!

The training, and the goals for training didn't stop there...


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