167 days since I first laced up my old gym trainers and attempted a run, I’ve hit my 5k target.
We were in Spain on Christmas Eve when I decided to strap on my old gym trainers, download Couch to 5k and go for a jog along the seafront. I’ve never run before, or been remotely interested in running before. But I had decided that I needed to get fitter and 2019 was going to be the year for it.
I’ve struggled to stick to anything fitness-wise since I gave up martial arts in my twenties. Since then I’ve had random spurts of joining and going to a gym or going to random classes but nothing has ever really stuck. That lack of motivation, combined with the 3-hour commute each day means that having no time to exercise is an excellent convenient excuse not to do it. So I realised I need something that is easy to do wherever you are, that doesn’t involve getting home and having to drive somewhere else and something that I can do at my own pace.
That first ‘run’ lasted just under 15 minutes. And nearly killed me.
But I went out again that week while we were in Spain, and since then I have either been out most weeks or gone for a run in the gym. I’ve run in Marbella and Malaga. I’ve run in Sussex and around Smithfield in London. I’ve run in the evenings and in the mornings, in the cold and in the warm. I’ve dumped the old trainers and bought shiny new lightweight ones, and a ridiculously bright pink jacket; and I’ve even bought a couple of copies of running magazines. My Mum and Dad have joined in by buying me some gloves to keep my hands warm and Madge regularly buys me fun socks that make me smile whenever I put them on. I’ve stopped using the the Couch to 5k and app and started listening to podcasts and I’ve had oodles of encouragement from friends – in person and virtually – and every single bit of it is utterly, totally appreciated.
Looking back on the last 6 months makes me very happy – and a little bit proud of myself that I’ve stuck to it. According to Strava I’ve run 94.78km!
The biggest revelation hasn’t been that, yes I am a bit fitter, and yes I look a bit slimmer – the biggest revelation has been how good I feel when I’m regularly running. How much it helps my head. A quick run at the end of the day is the perfect way to offload work-day stresses, which at some points in the last 6 months have felt almost overwhelming. Mid-way through, around Easter time while we were in Spain (again) I read ‘Eat, Drink, Run‘ by Bryony Gordon. It tells her journey to help tame her anxiety through running – how running saved her mental health and how through it, she set up her mental health support group ‘Mental Health Mates‘. Even if you don’t fancy donning your trainers and going out, I’d recommend it as a pretty inspirational, honest and heartfelt story.
I’m not making any big plans or ambitious goals for the next 6 months. I’m just going to keep on keeping on, running because I enjoy it and maybe adding some other activities to it a bit more regularly. I talked about the difficulty of finding time to do it with my coach, and he reminded me that if I don’t put myself first, no one else will. It’s up to me to stop prioritising other things (mostly work) above the things I want, or need, to do – like exercise. So keeping that in mind, I’m going to crack on and see if I can beat my 5k time over the next 6 months.
