My first 5k!

In the 8 weeks I spent following Personal Running Trainer's 8W25K I had never run more than 4k.  I knew this because I used Map Your Passion to measure my loop around the local park.  Door to door (including the 5 minute warm up and cool down) it took me about forty minutes.  I wanted to run my first 5k in under 50 minutes to feel like a 'proper' runner.  I know elite athletes can do it in under 20 and most runners sub 30, but as a beginner this was my personal target.

After Su and I shook on the marathon deal one of the first people I contacted was Vikki.  I've known her for years and a couple of years ago she got into keeping fit by running, kayaking and cycling.  She is now the fittest person I know and a real inspiration.  I messaged Vikki through Facebook and explained I wanted to start running.  She was a great source of encouragement and advice.  Through FB Su, Vikki and I became our own little running squad...who just never ran together.

Before the race (I'm the one in pink).

Su and I booked in for our first 5k and Vikki decided to show support by doing it with us (although she was now used to longer distances and faster speeds than I could do).  We all signed up for the Race for Life in Finsbury Park.  We began raising money as this was a sure way of making sure we kept up the training and actually did the race, we could not let down a good cause.  I also told everyone at work I intended to run the whole thing, with no walking.  If you start to tell people it begins to feel real.

On the 25th of July we met outside Finsbury Park station with my boyfriend James and Vikki's son FredE as our official bag carriers and photographers.

Of course the first thing to do on arrival at the park was to join the queue for the toilets, we then did a little stretching and watched as a crowd of women joined in the warm up that we decided would be too exhausting.   There was a great atmosphere, two ladies in pjamas and curlers, rabbit eared women and generally a wash of pink over the park.  Vikki confessed to trying not to read the backplates that stated who people were running for.  I read a few and then agreed it was probably best not to - so many people of all ages affected by cancer.  At least we were doing something about it - between us we'd raised £305 on justgiving and in our places of work.

Finding it hard  going!

From the off it was clear both Vikki and Su were fitter and faster than me, I also got distracted by everything as we wound our way round the park with the 'joggers'.  Who would've thought there were American Footballers in Finsbury Park?  Or a large pond?  Being good friends though they waited for me and encouraged me on.  We did the first 1k in 8 minutes which I thought was rather good having never timed this before.  At 4k Su pointed out to me I was now running further than I ever had before, I checked my watch and we had done this in 37 minutes, my PB! 

The last 1k was hard, I hadn't eaten properly, or drunk enough water the previous day (due to going 2 hours to Swindon and then back again in a car) and since a sleep study at the hospital on Wednesday I had barely slept.  If nothing else this made me realise us runners need to look after our bodies; we need food, water and sleep - without it we cannot function properly.

The finish line.

The last 500m was signposted so I picked up my pace only to realise there was a whole extra loop which had been out of sight.  We crossed the finish line together and I stopped my watch - 46'28", sub 50 minutes as I had wanted and I had not walked once!

My first finisher's medal!

8 weeks to 5k and new shoes

I weighed myself at the end of 4 weeks to 1 mile and this is when I decided on the 61 pound target.  Of course, I should have weighed myself at the very start, but I did not expect to stick with it.  I don't generally stick with new ideas.

After 4 weeks to 1 mile I decided to do the next program, 8 weeks to 5k, and downloaded this as an MP3 from Amazon. On day 1 it felt odd going back to interval training and only 60 seconds of running - after all I had proven I could run for 10 minutes!  I decided to work on improving my pace and then I realised the reason the intervals were so short was because I was working on running further.  The program was twice as long as 4 weeks to 1 mile, 40 to its 20, and this also made me wonder - have I got time for this? 

Again I made the mistake of trying to run too fast which I recognised after reading a book by Bob Glover, so I eased off the pace to work on the distance.

Halfway through the program my legs began to ache in an uncharacteristic way, this told me I needed new running shoes.  I had been surviving in an old pair of Nike Air but my leg ache told me the midsole support had gone and I needed to buy new shoes.  


How to buy running shoes:

• Go to a running shop, not just a sports shop
• Get them fitted, if there is no member of staff willing to help, leave the shop
• Go later in the day when your feet are at their largest
• Never assume a pair will fit because they are in 'your size' 
• Get your gait analysed, most running shops will have a machine for this.  You need shoes for your feet; for your arches, for your pronation
• Put them on and run round the shop

I would like to say I followed my own top tips, but the nearest proper running shop wasn't so easy to get to so I went to Sports Direct in Borehamwood which was recommended by a colleague.  I found a member of staff to help me, but he really was not much help. Thankfully I had read enough to be able to fit myself somewhat competently.  I went for another pair of Nikes as these seem to be the only make wide enough for my feet.


I felt the difference straight away when running, my legs no longer ached as they had done and I loved it that the new shoes were so light.  I think they made me feel like a proper runner.

As each week of 8W25K went by I mentally checked them off with a sense of achievement and felt I was getting closer to the ultimate aim of the program - my first 5k race!

Running outside London.

I live in London, as far north as you can go before tripping into Hertfordshire.  Hertfordshire is a very beautiful and green county.  London isn't.

Opposite my flat there is a high tower block full of charming people who only come out to scream obscenities to each other in the wee small hours.  Traffic speeds along the road and the police seem to be on some people's speed dial around here; and when they come they certainly come en mass.

St Alban's Abbey

There is one thing I am grateful for - my local park.  It is large and has a variety of beautiful, different trees.  Originally it was covered with oaks, but these were felled several centuries ago to build St Albans Abbey.  There is even a cafe at one end and should I ever fancy it tennis courts, a bowling green and some kind of golf.  If I do a wonky figure of eight I can run 4k within the park, taking in a particularly nasty hill that I run up very slowly.

The park has kept me running, I have some personal space to think through the day and I can say hello to as many dog walkers and fellow runners as I choose.  I can also monitor how well I am doing, it is a good day if I get to the bus stop by 35 minutes. 


However, there is one thing I am struggling with - the air.  I developed hayfever quite randomly a few years ago and dose myself up with Piriteze every summer and yet when running I still struggle to breathe.  On the flat of the hill I almost try not to as the fumes come right out of the car exhausts and into my lungs.

The old airfield in Whitchurch.

Today I was at the in-laws just outside Bristol, Somerset.  For those of you who don't know England this is in the west and in the countryside.  Rolling hills were golden in the sunset, ancient plough ridges rippling shadows on the fields and two balloons floated overhead.  As I ran around the old airfield (where the US air force landed its Dakotas in WW2) I realised I could breathe.  The air was absolutely clean and rushed straight through my nose and into my lungs.  It was amazing.  What was more amazing was that I have been breathing in polluted air for three years and had got completely used to it.

One last note on clean air - and this is for the tourists - when you come to London and go on the tube, blow your nose afterwards and keep blowing into the next day.  You'll see what I mean.  We call it 'tube nose'.

Excuses

I'm not athletic, I'm not fit and most of the time (due to sleep apnea or so my GP thinks) my favourite thing to do is sleep, sleep and sleep. I won't run for the bus - in London there'll be another within ten minutes so what's the point? Last summer a friend and I tried surfing, I managed a glorious nano second before falling off. What we realised then was that we just lacked the upper body strength to keep getting on the board. Since then my job has kept me really busy and I can reel off a list of excuses for my inactivity:

• Stress of a job
  
• Ill health
• Lack of time.

Now I can see those for what they were - excuses. It's time to awknowledge them as such and move on.

I have tried running before, in Y7 at secondary school we had to do cross country which I did diligently the first time and thereafter cottoned on to the fact we were outside of school, away from PE teachers and could walk chatting all the way. So I did. I also once tried running as a young adult, but I lived on a hill so that really did come to nothing.

My previous career was as an actor (no, you won't have seen me in anything) and I was once on tour with a dedicated runner. Even after a long and exhausting day at work he would throw on his running shoes and go off for hours. The rest of us were inspired to attempt to follow his example, but we didn't really know what we were doing. I just ran/jogged/walked through Fife listening to the Stereophonics, but not for long.

So you see, I'm not a runner and the past year has even seen me stop my regular yoga class (see excuses as listed above).

I'm unfit and...overweight (I much prefer that word to FAT). I won't tell you how much I weigh but at the beginning of this process I decided I wanted to drop 61 pounds, so that should tell you a little.

So, the aims are:

• Loose 61 pounds (minimum)
• Run the marathon in April

No more excuses!

The start of it all - April 2010

Su only had an hour, 11am. This was too early for me on a Saturday morning, but I hadn't seen her since a mutual friend's wedding the previous summer. It was now April.

I wandered in a tired daze to my local train station to change onto the Piccadilly line at Finsbury Park. Whilst on the train I had an image leap into my head from nowhere. It was like a photo of me - in navy blue and white running gear finishing a race. I looked slim and fit (unlike the present me) and I had shorter, dyed hair. This picture came from nowhere. Perhaps part of it was influenced by the recent London Marathon. Like many people I watched the marathon on TV (never yet having bothered to go and watch it in the flesh), sat back on my sofa, drinking my tea thinking "I'd like to do that". I've thought it every year since the marathon has been going.

At Covent Garden I was early so I wandered into Monsoon to remind myself it was out of my price range and look at clothes I could not afford. I stepped outside to call Su and ask her where we should meet. She's in Monsoon.

We go to Starbucks and drank calorific specialities. For some reason we got on to the subject of the London Marathon and both confess to having always wanted to achieve this. I have a hazy recollection of what happened next, but the consequence is we shook on a deal - to do the 2011 London Marathon.

Of course, I didn't take this seriously and thought Su would forget all about it. She doesn't. Then it hits me and I start panicking - I am really going to have to RUN!