There's no greater competition than yourself

I did it. I did a half marathon. This was originally on The List with a question mark as I really didn't know if it would be achievable. But it was, and I did it.

It took a few long runs in preparation, and a training plan which Tim drew up which worked with his shifts. I did think, on a number of occasions, while out on the longer runs, that it had been a mistake to sign up. But I got through the training runs and just about the day itself.
My friend Hayley (above), who, as I type, is currently cycling around Bolton on IronManUK, ran too but as part of her training for IronMan. She had offered words of wisdom throughout the training and build up, including running 11 miles instead of 10 as my final long run - just so my head knew that on the day it was only 2 miles "home". She stayed to cheer me over the finish line.

I ran it all, (I did not come here to walk!) but a bit slower than I'd hoped, but it was rather warm on the day - with no wind at all! Maybe I've now got the bug. Shall I do another one, to aim to complete at the pace of my training runs? Shall I do more 10k runs in the hope that I will one day get under an hour?

As I heard someone say once, "There's no greater competition than yourself".

Half

Following on from the last post (yes I know it's been a while), the next thing to talk about is another biggy on The List.

Yesterday was 1 year and a day since I began my running journey. On the 22nd May 2014 I put on my cheap "running trainers" and started the Couch 2 5K plan. At the time it felt like the goal was so far out of reach, and scrolling through the days of the plan, I thought that running even for 8 minutes continuously would be beyond my capabilities let alone running for a full half hour. But the plan worked, even if I did feel like throwing up after those 8 minutes, and I now run 5K at least twice a week - just for the fun of it. Yes fun!

Since last year I have taken part in 2 10K races, I've run home (about 8 miles), and yesterday I signed up to a half marathon. Am I mad? Maybe. This one happens to take place in July, and I'm not only worried about the distance, but the heat. (OK, potential heat.) But it is on my list, and you never know what is round the corner which may prevent you from doing what you are hoping to achieve - or tick off your list. So why not - while I can. Or actually, hope I can.

Another thing to mention here is that I have been hugely inspired by my friend Hayley, who seemingly is much more crazy than me as she is taking part in Iron Man UK this year, raising money for Macmillan. Watching her discipline, and determination to achieve her goal, and following her journey on her blog is hugely inspirational. She has been encouraging with where I've got to so far and is always a source of wise words and advice when needed about anything from socks to injuries. She regularly says to anyone who is wondering whether they are able to take up their next challenge that you'll be surprised at what your body can do - and this is so true. From running that first 60 seconds a year ago to the actual thought of a half marathon being within my reach - who knew!

To anyone considering taking up running, do it. It's relatively cheap - just the price of trainers, you make yourself get out into the open air, and the feeling you get when you reach your goal is great. Plus if you run by yourself or with others it is great to have some "me" time outside of the normal routine of work, travel, home, bed etc. Plus its good for keeping in shape. Think I've lost weight - not that I've been bothered to check, and certainly feel more energetic, and generally better than I did when I was at the Couch end of the C25K journey.
In similar words to Hayley, you never know what you can do until you try.

Me and Jenny at the end of the Manchester 10K 

Run Home

Tuesday 17th March saw me complete one of the bigger tasks on The List. I say bigger, as it took considerable effort and some planning. And a year ago, or even 6 months ago, I would have thought even the idea was ludicrous!

I ran home.
Ran home from work.
The journey can take 1 hour 45 minutes by 2 buses. Or a train, another train, then either a long walk or a bus. Or anything between 30 minutes to 2 hours to drive, depending on the traffic.
The journey on foot is only 8.3 miles. (Only?!)

I started my running journey in May 2014, completing the first day of Couch to 5k on the 22nd May. This programme worked well for me, even though the first time I ran for 8 minutes without stopping I thought I would throw up! It made it (relatively) easy to actually start doing exercise, and the prospect of running for 25 mins in week 7 did seem far off, but when I got there it wasn't too difficult and completing the programme did come with a massive sense of achievement.
Since completing the final day in week 9 of the programme in June 2014, I have been going out regularly. Not all that far, but at least twice a week, and I earned a t-shirt and sense of pride by completing my first 10k race at the Cheshire 10k in November 2014. Gradually building up my distance when time allowed, but making sure I kept going out pounding the streets.

Tim has also caught the running bug. He also started the Couch to 5k programme last summer and has since done a half marathon. So to anyone wondering if Couch to 5k works, yes it does!
Tim came with me on the run home. Some of the areas that the route goes through are, well, I've seen nicer places. I thought, for the first time, I should have company.

Before I started writing this post, I did a bit of googling, and it seems there's a whole thing out there about the Run Commute, with articles in the Guardian and Telegraph. There's even a Run to Work Day. Who knew?! Running to work, now that's something different. There was enough to think about planning the run home. I needed to get the bus in, where could I store my stuff, what was the route, did I have enough flexi to take an hour off, so that we were still able to make the nursery run on time? All these issues and questions all resolved themselves and so last Tuesday was the day.

The run itself was better than I thought it would be. A lot of stop-starting in Manchester centre, but even by the time we got to Piccadilly, we were almost matching the time it takes to drive! There were a couple of occasions where I thought "what on earth am I doing", and we discovered that the whole route was pretty much uphill. But it was actually quite enjoyable, especially at the parts where were were moving faster than the traffic. I managed a bit of a spurt of energy at the end, which actually made me think that the next challenge on The List may not be too far off: Half marathon?