On Becoming A Runner (Guest Post)

Then after a family health scare, I decided to do a charity run. 10km seemed like a challenge but doable, so I signed up for a race, and I restarted Couch to 5km. That first session in April 2013 the run intervals were for 30 seconds and they felt like they lasted 30 minutes. I stuck with it though, I needed to be able to get round 10km in July, I had enough time to get through the 8 week program and then stretch my runs a bit until the race, I would finish it by running and walking if I had to, but I would run and I would raise money for charity, and then I would run no more.

A couple of weeks in I discovered the Zombies, Run 5k app. It's C25k but with Zombies, and I loved it! I wanted to go out and do the next session because I wanted to know what happened next in the story. It kept me motivated and it started to make running fun. I stopped focusing on the pain, the tiredness and the stretching of time and I listened to the story and pretended I was running from zombies. I finished the course and I ran my 10km race finishing in 71:17. I had hoped to finish in 80 minutes and when entering in April had estimated a 90 minute finish so was very happy with that! It was then that I admitted I quite liked running - however I did state that 10km was far enough and that I had no intention of running any further than that...

It would seem that I lied. Time moved on, I graduated to the proper grown-up, sprint away from imaginary zombies version of the game and I signed up for more races. A 14km & 15km in the Lake District were cold and wet but enjoyable, and I discovered the wonder of parkrun too. I started to meet other lovely running people and began to feel more and more like a runner.

My brother, a personal trainer, suggested it would be fun to do a run together and that we should join him and his friends for a half marathon. Why not? I thought. It's not that far, I can do that and I can walk if I need to. So 11 months after starting C25k I finished the CTS Sussex Half Marathon. It was probably at this point that some would say things spiralled out of control, I signed up for more of the Lakeland Trails races, including their marathon, some half marathons, some 10km races and continued to attend parkrun each week as well!

My identity was changing, no longer was I a snowboarder, I was a runner, I enjoyed running, the training, the races, the escape from the office and a reason not to sit alone in my hotel three nights a week when I worked away.

It is now 26 months since I first ventured out to run:walk my way to a single 10km charity race and in that time I have completed the following:

• 62 parkruns
• 1 x Mile
• 7 x 10km races
• 4 x 10 mile-ish races
• 7 x half marathons
• 1 x marathon
• 2 x ultra marathons (both about 50km)!

You may think that is crazy enough for the non-runner who swore they would never run further than 10km, but I am already signed up for 11 more marathons, 6 timed challenges that should be ultras if I stay on track and a race in which I will run 27 loops of a course to reach 100 miles!

I haven't lost weight but I am more toned, I am not fast but I can fight through the demons to get to a finish and I am a happier person than I was two years ago, I am a runner (even though I will walk to get the race done if I have to).

If you think you can't run, or that you aren't fast enough, or thin enough or "runner" enough then you are wrong. I will agree that running doesn't suit everyone but I would say to anyone reading this, "give it a try". Head to a local parkrun, try running using an app on your phone, chase a pretend dog in the park.....get out there, try it and see if you too find running sneaking up on you and becoming part of your life!

 Kat
www.tailfish.co.uk
@IAmKat