As of the Sunday the 28th of January I am in training
for the Sheffield Half Marathon which will take place on the 8th of
April. I’ve essentially paid £37 to run 13.1 miles up and down a big hill, you
can ask me why but I might have to get back to you on the answer.
Before we get in to how the training is going let me take you on a
journey through my history with exercise and sport…
When I was in year 11 of secondary school I had phone call home
from my discouraged PE teacher after I refused to play basketball in favour of
sitting on the radiator and chatting. When I was 18, after my first university
term of eating my bodyweight in carbs, I decided to join a gym so bought a full
gym kit and running shoes. This didn’t end well after I couldn’t find the gym,
looked like an idiot and decided that this gym wasn’t for me. Next was my first
experience with running, I got up early on a Sunday morning, got straight in to
my running clothes and ran out of my front door with the aim of doing at least twenty
minutes cross-country. Fast-forward 3 minutes and I was walking, out of breath
and with a killer-stitch. Turns out I wasn’t particularly fit after leaving the
forced exercise of school behind and discovering the joys of alcohol and pasta
for every meal. My gym clothes finally got their day in the sun after I started
going to a nearby gym with my university flatmates… at least until I moved in
to new accommodation where the 20-minute walk to the gym put me off. 2 years
later, while on my placement year, I needed something to occupy my free time
around work so the obvious solution was
to take up swimming. (You may be able to guess where this is going) I bought a
swimming costume and goggles and headed to the pool. My overall thoughts on
swimming are as follows; it is bloody knackering, it’s boring and it feels like
everyone around you is so much better. I
swam a grand total of 5 lengths before getting out of the pool and sitting in
the changing rooms wondering why the hell I ever thought this was a good idea. I
was the definition of ‘all the gear and no idea’ or you may prefer ‘all the kit
and still shit’. And somehow from sitting almost naked in a grubby leisure
centre changing room wondering what the policy for returning a swimming costume
was, I decided to join a running club and complete the couch to 5k program. *drum
roll please* I actually did it!
I’ll be honest, after I completed the couch to 5k I didn’t become
the jolly running girl who ran a swift 5k before dawn. Rather, I lost interest
in the running club in favour of solo runs and since then my relationship with
running has been on and off. Then in September last year, in a hangover induced
stupor I agreed to the half marathon.
Finding the motivation to carry on comes from your head and not
your legs. I’ve learnt that I’m not someone who can jump out of bed and run but
if I’m sticking to training so that’s fine. Now I am in my third week of
‘official’ training and can now run 6 miles, aka I’m almost at the half way
point and the idea of running for two hours or more sends dread straight to my
soul. It’s well written that running is as much about physical endurance as it
is mental. Sometimes running is gruelling AF but knowing that once I’ve
completed a planned run gives me so much simple happiness and pride in myself. It’s
not all #fitspo and my-body-is-a-temple though, like yesterday when I couldn’t even
do 5k of hill training. I may whip up a green smoothie from time to time but I reward
myself with a bag of monster munch.
So that’s it for now, I’ll be back with part two when I’m at the 10-mile
mark. Wish me luck!
