Guest blog: My first running experience...

About a month ago, Rob (from The Joseph Foote Trust) asked me to write a blog to encourage people to take up & enjoy running. Hopefully to help raise funds for the Joseph Foote Foundation and to help continue to increase awareness of just how many of our youngsters are affected by these dreadful brain tumours.

I experienced a couple of emotions when Rob asked me:

1) Wow!! What a compliment! Me? Write a blog? &

2) Will I be able to? Will folk be interested? I'm just an ordinary person, certainly not an elite athlete!

  

To get started, let me tell you a little more about myself:-

I'm a 40 something mother of 4 (a bit of a plain Jane actually) who, literally, quite by accident, has taken up running (then swimming, then cycling - but the running came first). I say I started running by accident because that's quite literally what I did. One summer BBQ four years ago and after a couple (or 3 or 4) of glasses of wine, a friend and I were discussing how well our kids had done at a recent school sports day. We laughed and joked and took the glory saying our kids had inherited our genes - they had to - look at the husbands over there - ha ha ha ha ..... (you get the picture). My friend picked up the local newspaper & said, "Look! There's 40 last minute places up for grabs in the Great North Run. We should apply and we can show the men where the kids get their sporting ability from! Tipsily we filled in the forms and sent them off thinking, there's no way we'll get selected. However, 2 two weeks later and twelve weeks before the Great North Run, we got our places. Except my friend went abroad which left me on my own - to run a half marathon - GULP!!! 

My place was to raise funds for Marie Curie cancer Care (min £250).

Panic struck - How was I? Unfit mother of 4, plain Jane, 40 something, fading slowly into an elephant - ever going to run 13.1miles?!

I grabbed a pair of trainers and the dog lead, dog attached, and set off running - and then after about half a mile, I had to stop. I couldn't breathe - I COULDN'T RUN!

I went home really frustrated and upset and called my fit friend (I call her that because she runs and bikes and does lots of outsidey things). She told me: "Jane! Don't just try and run 13 miles, that's impossible! Break it down, jog and walk at first, increase your distance gradually..." and that is exactly what I did. I walked for 30 seconds, then jogged for 30 seconds for a few minutes.

The next time I went out I walked for a minute then jogged for a minute for about 10 minutes and so on..... everyday, gradually increasing my time and distance.

If it wasn't for the fact that I'd pledged to raise £250 for Marie Curie Cancer Care I would have probably given up. However, I was overwhelmed with support and encouragement from family and friends - there was no way I could give up. Everybody told me I was doing an amazing thing, offering me sponsorship, telling me I was fantastic. I started to feel fantastic. Weight was dropping off me (2 stone and 2 dress sizes - what a complete bonus!!)

I trained 5 days a week for 12 weeks and the sponsorship kept coming and coming. I'd raised £1200 and I hadn't even run yet - there was no stopping me now!

The day of the Great North Run came - and I can honestly say it was probably the most exhilarating day of my life. At the start line I realised just how truly blessed I was. Here was I, 40, running - by accident - & probably because I was having a mid life crisis!

All around me were people wearing T shirts with photos of loved ones.

"I'm running for my little hero, my little angel...". "I'm running for my mum". The girl in front of me was wearing a Cancer Research T shirt. The words she'd written herself, "I'm running for my mum, I miss you xxxxxxx"

Words cannot explain the raw emotion I was experiencing. There were 60,000 people running and I honestly believe I was the only one doing it because I was having a mid life crisis. The other 59 999 were all wearing T shirts for charities and loved ones close to their hearts. We truly are amazing human beings at times.

I completed the run - physically and emotionally exhausted and at the same time ecstatic, carried along by the crowds. It took me 2 hours 20 minutes - so definitely not an elite athlete but not that bad either for a 40 year old mother of 4 who couldn't run to her road end 12 weeks previously.

Please, If you think you can't do it, think again. Believe in yourself. Like I said at the start, believing in yourself is half the battle.

Below is a little training programme which should get a complete beginner running comfortably for half an hour over a 12 week period:

Week 1. 3 sessions of run 1 minute / walk one minute (x6)
Week 2. 3 sessions of run 1 min 30 seconds / walk 30 seconds (x8)
Week 3. 3 sessions of run 2 minutes / walk 30 seconds (x10)
Week 4. 3 sessions of run 3 minutes / walk 1 minute (x10)
Week 5. 3 sessions of run 4 minutes / walk 1 minute (x8)
Week 6. 3 sessions of run 5 minutes / walk 1 minute (x8)
Week 7. 3 sessions of run 10 minutes / walk 1 minute (x3)
Week 8. 3 sessions of run 15 minutes / walk 1 minute (x2)
Week 9. 3 sessions of run 20 minutes
Week 10. 3 sessions of run 25 minutes
Week 11. 3 sessions of run 30 minutes
Week 12. 3 sessions of run 35 minutes

A couple of things though - 

First and foremost - make sure you're okay to run. Especially if you're 40 something, have an underlying medical condition (eg diabetes, high blood pressure etc...) please let your GP know your plans and get the go ahead first. Secondly, invest in a decent pair of running shoes. Visit a specialist running store to get expert advice even if it is cheaper to go to a high street retailer or to buy off the wibbly wobbly web. Make that initial trip. Try on the shoes wearing the socks you'll be running in too so you're sure your comfortable. When you've done that, you're ready to rock and roll!

Good luck everyone! Enjoy your new fitness, and happy fundraising too.

(If this is an interesting read and you're interested, then I'll tell you Chapter 2 (when I swam 6.5km across the sea for the Joseph Foote Foundation (by accident!))

xxx

(Written by Jane Hardy)