Road runner

Those of you who have seen me in real life probably won't believe this, but I used to be a runner. Not the long-distance marathon super-fit type, but the run a few times a week and enjoy it type. I remember an 8k run that I did in Nature's Valley when I was 20 or so - on holiday. So I wasn't super-serious about the whole thing but I liked it, and did enough of it to stay fit and healthy. 

But of course, since then, marriage and kids and working life happened, and if you're lazy busy like me exercise can be the first thing to disappear off the schedule. Plus running and cake baking/decorating don't really go hand in hand as hobbies, and you know which one I tend to choose.

Pretty much the only exercise I've had in the last few  years (apart from running after 2 kids, which I suppose is a good start) was a 10k walk that I did at the Soweto marathon in November last year. And I would probably have chickened out from that one too if my friend Simon wasn't doing it with me. It was great fun though, and Simon and I promised each other that this year we'd run 10k instead of walking it. Easy enough when it's still a year away, right?

So around March this year I renounced my couch potato status and started doing the couch to 5k running program. It went great for the first 3 weeks, I made good progress, enjoyed running and felt good about myself. Then week 4, day 1 of couch to 5k was just too much for my system (going from running either 90 seconds or 3 minutes at a time, to running 3 or 5 minutes at a time was too big a jump!) So the rest of the week I didn't feel up to running, and the next week I got sick, and then the kids were sick, and so on. I'm sure I don't need to tell you the rest.

About 2 months later I went running once, and repeated the 90 seconds / 3 minutes running program with no issues. That surprised me - I thought I would have to go back a week further, but I handled it fine. And yet, I didn't find the time or energy to keep at it.

Then 2 weeks ago, I received an e-mail reminder that the Soweto marathon is coming up. At the same time, my gym membership (which I haven't really used for the last 6 months) was up for renewal. Decision time.

So I unearthed my running shoes from the back of the closet, dug up my exercise clothes (which only fit because I've been doing Weight Watchers, otherwise a shopping trip would have been necessary) and went back to gym.

Here's the pick-my-jaw-up-off-the-floor bit: I got on the treadmill, and ran the program for week 4, day 1 of couch to 5k with no problems whatsoever. After pinching myself a few times, I got very excited, and found a 10k running program. Now I'm back on track, in week 4 of a 12 week program to get me to a 10k race. I even took the stairs instead of the lift at work today!

The big news out of all of this is that I've just thrown my hat over the wall and entered a 10k race on 9 October. That's the end of week 12 of my training program. I'm nervous, and excited, and feeling phenomenal about the whole thing. I'll keep you updated.