Deciding to take the plunge and start training to complete a 10k run, was a challenge I set myself hoping to move my fitness to a new level and a means of staying motivated to continue towards my health goal.
I gingerly bought up the idea with my PT Brad Crossman who had to teach me first the best way to run but also had the challenge of assessing my fitness for achieving the goal.
Oh boy did I think I have taken off more than I can chew because 10 weeks before the Dee Why to Manly fun run I could not even finish one round of the local oval.
With Brads encouragement, a running plan which involved downloading one of those running apps “ease into 10k” and sticking to the plan of running 3 times a week I soon surprised myself how quickly my fitness improved where I could continuously jog for a couple of km.
Breaking any speed records I was not, the weekend before the fun run I did 10km and it took me an hour and 45 minutes, which meant I was going to pass the fun run cut off times by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I was still proud of my progress because was much better than 10 weeks ago and hey, I did not quit.
D day arrived and what an electric experience lining up with the thousands of other runners – woops did I just refer to myself as a runner?
I managed to finish unscathed and complete it within an hour and a half and the feeling of accomplishment was exhilarating.
I have since completed a few other fun runs including the same fun run a year later and shaved some time off my original time.
I completed the city to surf which is 14km but discovered it was 2km too long, that my body enjoyed 10km but not long distance. A marathon was not going to be in my horizon.
The secret to any exercise I think
- is to experience it,
- listen to your body and
- decide if it is something you enjoy.
I have now had to hang up my running shoes and stick to walking due to a condition called Haglands deformity which is a sharp growth on my heel that I just found out was causing me to suffer Achilles tendonitis.
So now matter how good a song is that gives me the urge to run, I will just have to speed up my walking pace instead. The next thing to tackle I think is cycling, stay tuned as I will let you know how that goes, until then lots of walking, attending my beloved F45 and even talking about tackling an obstacle course.
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