A bit of background

I thought it worth starting a new running blog for no reason other than making it a time-proof way to track my progress and, frankly, as a bit of a reminder that, while an 8 mile run might sound easy while sitting at work, it wasn't the last time I did it and I doubt it will be the next!

I'm not really a runner. I mean, I run. But I don't count myself as being fast enough, or fit enough, to be a real runner. That's one of my aims and, when I can manage a half marathon in a good (sub 2:30 I suppose) pace, then I might just consider myself a runner. At present, 'hapless amateur' may just about describe it.

So, let's start with the basics...

I took up running 2 years and 8 months ago simply because I was told I couldn't do it. I wasn't fat; indeed, as an ok climber, I was relatively strong, but I wasn't fit per se. I couldn't have run to save my life. And the first run I did, 250m was a serious struggle. Within a couple of months, I could run a few k without stopping and it took 7 months to hit the 5k mark. After that, with a peak of 7k, I didn't really do anything above 3k for 14 months. June 2013 brought a fair few 5ks and, in July, my first 10k. Running any substantial distance over 4k then tapered off until March of this year when I vowed to stop being so damned lazy and do some exercise.

It helps that my other half is a runner. He's no professional but he's pretty fast and has much better endurance than me. He's very good at dragging me along kicking and screaming a few hundred metres further. Bless him, he's got an awful lot of patience with me. Which he needs. 

For, whatever else I may be, I am not a lover of running. I am tight with my money, which means free forms of exercise hold some serious appeal, and I love the feeling after a run but I don't especially enjoy the exercise itself. I can't for the life of me run on a treadmill as boredom and the urge to press the 'Stop' button set in very quickly. If anyone has any tips on how to combat this, they'd be very much appreciated.

But I am determined. This October, Nick and I are doing the Amsterdam half marathon. Next year, he's doing a full marathon and I'm doing another half. I'll consider doubling the distance in 2016! We ran 8 miles a couple of weeks back and do fairly regular, though not regular enough, 6+ mile routes. They're hard but they won't kill me. At present, 8 is a bit of a barrier as that was really tough but we've plenty of routes scheduled in for the next few months to see us, hopefully, hitting 11 miles at the end of July. With a few weeks' holiday in August meaning one less month of training, that should make the 13.2 in October eminently doable. 

At present, I'm aiming for two gym sessions weekly - cross trainer, weights and swim. These each involve a 2.5 mile run from work to the gym in the first place, which is a 'nice' warm up. I'm also hoping for one mid-length solo run, one mid-length run with Nick and a long run together weekly to keep us getting fitter. Of course, this may well be interrupted by holidays/weddings/other spurious plans/anything more tempting but, for now, there IS a plan. And so far, it's going ok :)