Wednesday 30 May 2012

Don't stop me now...

On Monday morning my sister arrived for a 2 day visit.  After the usual catch-up I told her I had running group that evening....and would she like to come.  She sort of looked at me in a puzzled way, then hesitantly agreed.

So off we went. I wasn't expecting miracles, I know my last 2 runs haven't been great.  As usual I quickly fell behind, but that's ok, right?
We were both told to run the smaller loop in the park, and we did 5...yes 5...loops.  Quite amazing.  I ended up walking much less than last time, but I wont even pretend it wasn't hard.
We lost the leader, as she went running with the faster group, but found us eventually on the way back.  We didn't dare go the way we knew they had incase we got lost.  It involves running through a golf course.  Surely that needs some sort of risk assessment? I can just imagine myself lying on the ground with a golf ball shaped dent in my head.
My sister had a faster pace and ran on ahead slightly, so I was left running with the leader.  She revealed quite a few suprising things about herself.  Like when she was at Uni she went up to a size 18-20.  Looking at her you'd never even dream it.  She's a mean lean running machine.  She also told me she has to work so hard to run the way she does, and that it doesn't come natural.  In other words...there's hope for me yet!
We got to maybe a few minutes away from base, and I said to her 'OK I'm going to have to walk at this next corner' - and to my surprise, instead of encouraging me to walk, get my breath back, then run again, she said 'No you're not, you're running all the way, because then you've ran your first mile non-stop'.  Part of me was slightly offended, part of me was spurred on, and part of me didn't know what to think.  I really didn't think I'd make it.  I kept looking at her with puppy dog eyes, but it didn't work.  She didn't let me stop.  She took pity on me though, and told me to count my breaths to 10, then start again.  And it actually worked.  I was back before I knew it, as she shouted to the rest of the girls 'THEY'VE JUST RAN THEIR FIRST MILE!' - we got clapped and cheered.  I felt so proud.  That group is such a fantastic thing to be a part of, and even though I'm not a fantastic runner and there's no way I can keep up with the rest of them, they make me feel so welcome, and that's such a great motivator.

Tomorrow would be run day.  But my boy has been given the day off work, and I don't have any work to do (I work from home at the moment....meaning I just drink tea and watch This Morning till I feel like doing something) and so we're going out for the day and may not be back in time.  I thought about going on Friday morning and doing the same route, but I know it wont be the same on my own.
There's no escaping it though....today I got my 10k race pack in the post.  It's official.  It's also pretty scary.

I'd recommend to anyone starting out to find a small running group (found mine on Run England), and hopefully there's plenty more friendly, motivating groups like mine floating around the country world!


1 comment:

  1. Congrats on your first mile and congratulations on getting told off too! haha :)

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