#freshstartruns

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Today was Parkrun day!  Our local parkrun has only been up and running for three weeks, and this was my second time participating.  I have to say, they are soooo much fun.  It’s fab to see all the other runners, especially the kids.  There are some really, really young kids out there getting involved.  

I actually find the course a bit tough, because I’m not in the best shape at the moment and the last 2k is around a bleddy great field - grass, mud, ice, bogs, mires, hills, you name it!  But it felt good to put real effort into a run.  And I love the stats that you get at the end.  I came 111th out of 282 runners, but I was 18th female, and 5th in my age group.  I can’t wait to do it again next week and see if I can improve on that.  Challenge accepted!  

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Hi there.  I did my first ever Parkrun today, and I thought it would be a good introduction to the January running club.  

So, what shall I say about myself?  I’m 42 years old, and from the UK.  I began running about 3 years ago after I had major surgery to remove a benign but enormous tumour from my abdomen.  That experience made me appreciate my body a bit more, and with the encouragement of two Couch to 5k veterans I did the programme, and then kept going.  I occasionally do official races for fun, and the longest I have ever done is a Half Marathon.  My runs usually consist of 5ks around the local bay, though.  The Parkrun I did today was a brand new one, just starting in my area.  In fact, it’s only a 5 minute walk away from my house so it’s just perfect for me.  There were at least 300 people there, and I can’t wait to check out my stats.  It was a good course - basically 2 laps of the velopark and then one long lap of the rugby and playing fields adjoining it, which were very muddy!  This was my first run in a few weeks, so I was glad to find that I still had it in my legs.  I forgot to stop my garmin for a few seconds after the race though, and it was a bit longer than 5k because of where I started out in the pack, but I’m more than happy with that time.  

I have 3 running goals for January - to run regularly (3 times a week), to slowly increase my distance from 5k upwards, and to work on improving my 5k times.  My best ever 5k was 24.59 a couple of years ago.  I’m not sure I’ll ever be capable of that again, but I want to be around the 25-26 minute mark (not by the end of January, just in general!)  

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s posts and joining in all the running fun.  :D

Take care, everyone.  

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A swim and a run

I headed out to the pool at 7.00 a.m. for a 25 minute swim before work.  The pool is still packed of pensioners, and even they were commenting to each other how full it was today!  

After that and a day at work, I really didn’t want to go out for a run, which is what I had planned.  But then I decided that 1 mile is better than 0 miles, so I did a quick once around the seafront and then home - 1 mile in 8.16 mins.  It was a proper dark run, too, since the clocks went back, and seeing as it’s Halloween I did have somebody scream at me from a passing car which made my jump out of my skin.  Dickhead.  

I’m glad I did my measly mile, and I hope I will have the discipline to do this again whenever I just can’t motivate myself for a 5k run or longer.  I may not always be able to face a 30 minute run, but a 10 minute run is do-able no matter what.  

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I was going to have an easy 5k today but I ended going quite fast.  I was surprised by the time, I really only intended to go at about a 9 min/mile pace.  This is my first run in a week, so I figured it would be a bit sluggish.  I’m pleased with that though, it’ll do very nicely.  It was so hot as well, it didn’t feel like the middle of October at all.  I think my next run will be in a couple of days on the treadmill at the gym, as part of my induction programme, so I was glad to be outside and running by the sea.  

Also today, my English Literature A Level material arrived.  Woop woop.  I’m doing that and Psychology A Level through distance learning, just for fun!  If you’d have told 17 year old me that I’d still be doing A Levels when I was 42, I would never have believed it.  But I like to keep my mind ticking over, so I can’t wait to get started.  

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5k run and a cat...  my life.  :D   Norman was so well disguised on my bed, it took me a minute or two to notice he was there.  

I had a nice 5k yesterday morning, before the visit to Dartmoor.  It was the first time that I had been out for an early morning run rather than an early evening run and it felt good to get it done and then have the rest of the day free.  It’s a habit I want to start getting into.

Also, I joined my local gym on Friday.  I had a free induction where they showed me some of the machines, and afterwards I signed up on a monthly contract.  I’m going back on Wednesday to meet one of the trainers and get my personalised programme.  I wasn’t sure how I would feel about being a gym, I’ve literally never stepped foot inside one before, but it felt fine.  I was worried about feeling stupid or incompetent, but I didn’t feel out of place.  That’s a good sign, I think.  I don’t know whether I will ever be a gym monkey, but it means I get unlimited swimming and I can use a treadmill when the weather is too bad to run outside.  

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So, I really had a lazy summer.  I got out of running and didn’t get out to the pool for months, but I seem to have found my motivation again.  Over the last few weeks I’ve ventured out for a few runs and have built up my distance from a painful 3k to an easy 5k.  I’ve also been swimming a few times, finally getting my money’s worth out of my monthly pool membership!

And I’ve had such a fab weekend. On Saturday I did my first 5k for weeks, and it was the Colour Rush along my local beach.  This is the third one I’ve done, and it’s just the most fun ever.  Look at the pictures, aren’t they great?  And I was somehow inspired to tackle one of my long term hang-ups about getting on my bicycle and having a wobbly ride around the seafront.  I bought the bike in January, and this was only the third time I’ve used it.  For 9 months I’ve had an image in my head of me being some kind of pathetic specimen, struggling to ride a bike and possibly making a complete idiot of myself.  But somehow this weekend I just kind of woke up to how foolish that anxiety was, and that all I needed to do was get on the damn bike, pride and dignity be damned.  I’m a grown woman, and there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of!  I went for a 15 minute wobble along the promenade and then plucked up the courage to visit the local velopark.  I mean, this velopark is literally 5 minutes away from where I live, but I was always too scared to try it.  I wobbled down there, spoke to the bloke on duty and explained my worries, and he let me try out a lap for free.  Bloody hell, it was wonderful!  It’s a 1.5 km loop, all flat. all one-way, ridden by hard-core cyclists, toddlers with stabilisers, confident cyclists and people just like me.  It’s just perfect for me to learn and build up my confidence, and now I’m half kicking myself for not trying it sooner and half over the moon that I finally got over all of my apprehensions.  

My next challenge is in the pool on Tuesday - once again to tackle my fears of looking foolish in front of people, grab a float and practise my front crawl.  I may even throw in a bit of backstroke.  Hell, anything’s possible!