Back in June I decided to lace up my trainers and take the first steps (literally!) towards my of my lifelong dreams. I watched my Dad complete the Southampton marathon when I was a kid and ever since then I have always had a desire to follow in his footsteps. A long distance run or marathon has been on my bucket list since before I even heard the term bucket list, and now it has jumped up that list to become a short term challenge.
The last time I was in a race must have been more than 20 years ago when I was still at school. I came last, or almost last. I can remember exactly, but I was always once of the slowest, so the thought of lining up against others is a little daunting. However, this is not about being the quickest runner, it is about achieving my own goals and dreams.
It is now just 2 weeks until I take part in my first race since starting my running challenge, a quarter marathon and I can’t wait for it to start!
I am very pleased with the way my training is going and to be honest I have even surprised myself with some of the achievements I have made so far. On my early runs I was finding distances around 1-2 miles a challenge and averaging a pace of around 13-14 minutes per mile. Since then I have increased my ‘standard’ training run to 5 miles and also completed 2 runs that were just over 10 miles.
I’ve also been working on improving my pace. Last week I managed to set my PB, but over a distance on just 2 miles and on a treadmill. This morning, I beat it! Not on treadmill, but on the road and over a distance of 5 km (3 miles). I’ve you’d asked me 2 months ago if I could clock miles in less than 7 minutes 30 seconds I’d have laughed at you. This morning I did just that in my first mile and finished with an average pace of 7 minutes 42 seconds! That means I have nearly doubled my pace in 2 months! I’m well happy with that.
Year Without Beer
Never mind the Olympics, 2012 is my Year Without Beer! I am spending all 366 days of this leap year alcohol free in an attempt to raise money for 2 charities that are both very close to my heart.
As part of my running challenge I am signed up to run a quarter marathon, 10 mile road race (Great South Run) and 8 mile off road challenge (The Grim Original).
In 2012 I was raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Cancer Research UK.
