Why I ran a 5k straight away

I tried taking up running a few years ago you know. I went out, bought a pair of trainers and set about doing the couch to 5k plan (C25K) but doing it by myself I got bored after less than 2 week and gave up. The trainers slowly languished in the corner of the room and plans to run became an inevitably unmentionable part of my 'history of fads'.

I clearly went about it all wrong. If I have to do anything alone with no support I fail, it's just the way I am and I've learned that through many disappointments over the years. That's why this time I decided to join the beginners running club so at least I had a weekly club to go to surrounded by other women in exactly the same position as me.



But while I was doing a bit of hunting about online for motivation I discovered parkrun. Parkrun is a free weekly 5k run organised in dozens and dozens of locations right across the world and as it happens there's a very popular one in Newcastle just outside the city centre. A FREE weekly 5k run? That sounds like a good way to get some practice in once I'm up to that kind of level.

Hang on a minute though, how am I going to GET to that level unless I practice? This is a bit of a double-edged sword here so what's the solution? Well as it turns out, the solution is to just shut up and run. Gordon agreed to come with me for moral support but as I was standing at the back of the pack waiting for the starting horn I panicked. What the hell am I doing here? 5k is a long way for a complete beginner. What if I'm last by miles? And then we were off - no turning back now.

I'll admit right away - I didn't run the entire 5k. Christ almighty I only started running on Wednesay so I was under no illusions of my severe lack of ability and fitness. I never expected that I'd be able to run the entire 5k but I also knew that there was no shame at all in walking bits. I certainly wasn't the only person walking and that was so reassuring. I got chatting to a woman part way round who was doing parkrun for exactly the same reason as me - a means of getting out, plain and simple and we caught up again at the 4k marker and jogged it to the finish line together. This regular run around the same loop will end up being a really good gauge of how my fitness and strength improves as week on week I should be able to run a little further and for a little longer. The run is timed and the results are posted on the website every week so you can see how you're doing week on week.

The C25K plan takes something like 10 weeks to build up to a 5k and yeah fair enough it builds up to being able to run a 5k in one go, but in the meantime I'm just gonna do it. I've done my first 5k already and it's the first of a potential 50+ per year. What better way to train up than to just get out and run.

Todays motivational phrase: It doesn't matter how slow you're going, you're still lapping everyone on the sofa.