Serendipitous Strides; My
Road to Realising I’m a Runner
It seems these days that we really are bang-slap in the middle of a fully-fledged running boom and more and more people, especially women, are lacing up their carefully selected trainers and hitting the road, track or trail. Many, like me, are discovering the sport later in life for a wide range of reasons and are surprised to discover just how transformational it can be.
To fully understand quite how much I appreciate the act of running, I think you need a little personal back-story. When I was 11 I started at a secondary school that had just opened a new community sports centre so I was encouraged to be pretty active with various sports; I went to quite a few clubs; netball, basketball, hockey, badminton, step aerobics classes. I seemed to be especially good at gymnastics and got most excited about using the trampoline. At the age of 14 however, just as I was about to start training to enter competitions, I started experiencing joint pain in my hips (not great for jumping!) and was eventually diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I used crutches to walk for a couple of years and was reduced to wheelchair use from time to time. Thankfully, as often happens with the condition, it went into remission a few years later and whilst I never fully returned to sports participation with quite the same regularity, I was, in time, able to get a bit more active again.
Throughout my adult life I was used to getting exercise through swimming, using an exercise bike at home or going for an occasional jog outside. This was purely to maintain fitness and never something I was especially excited by. I didn’t get the urge to burst out of the front door or leap in to the pool; it was just about trying to make sure I lived past 60! I never thought I would ever join a gym as I thought it would be too expensive and I wasn’t really confident enough or particularly enamoured with the idea of getting sweaty in public; exercise was a necessary part of staying healthy, not something I could say I really enjoyed.
In the summer of 2012, I took advantage of a free swim offer that the leisure club at a local hotel was participating in. Initially, when I filled in my registration form I put a firm tick in the ‘not interested in membership’ box, but as I relaxed in the spa pool and looked forward to using the sauna, I began to weigh up the cost of membership with the amount I was spending on using public swimming baths. I realised that it would cost me about 40p per month more to become a member but that I would have access to far more facilities (and without wanting to sound snobby, it would be so much nicer!). I signed up to a trial membership and haven’t looked back.
To fully understand quite how much I appreciate the act of running, I think you need a little personal back-story. When I was 11 I started at a secondary school that had just opened a new community sports centre so I was encouraged to be pretty active with various sports; I went to quite a few clubs; netball, basketball, hockey, badminton, step aerobics classes. I seemed to be especially good at gymnastics and got most excited about using the trampoline. At the age of 14 however, just as I was about to start training to enter competitions, I started experiencing joint pain in my hips (not great for jumping!) and was eventually diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I used crutches to walk for a couple of years and was reduced to wheelchair use from time to time. Thankfully, as often happens with the condition, it went into remission a few years later and whilst I never fully returned to sports participation with quite the same regularity, I was, in time, able to get a bit more active again.
Throughout my adult life I was used to getting exercise through swimming, using an exercise bike at home or going for an occasional jog outside. This was purely to maintain fitness and never something I was especially excited by. I didn’t get the urge to burst out of the front door or leap in to the pool; it was just about trying to make sure I lived past 60! I never thought I would ever join a gym as I thought it would be too expensive and I wasn’t really confident enough or particularly enamoured with the idea of getting sweaty in public; exercise was a necessary part of staying healthy, not something I could say I really enjoyed.
In the summer of 2012, I took advantage of a free swim offer that the leisure club at a local hotel was participating in. Initially, when I filled in my registration form I put a firm tick in the ‘not interested in membership’ box, but as I relaxed in the spa pool and looked forward to using the sauna, I began to weigh up the cost of membership with the amount I was spending on using public swimming baths. I realised that it would cost me about 40p per month more to become a member but that I would have access to far more facilities (and without wanting to sound snobby, it would be so much nicer!). I signed up to a trial membership and haven’t looked back.
My First Medal!
When I joined fully, one of the gym staff members worked closely with me to assess my fitness and suggest how to achieve my personal health goals. After a few months he suggested I think about participating in the 2013 Bupa Great Run Manchester. Although I had done a bit of running in the past, athletics was the one thing about school sports I always hated, even when I was well enough to do it! I was always with the gaggle that walked at the back when we did cross-country running! School sports days, even at primary school filled me with dread; staring down that grassy racetrack towards a row of sweaty beanbags with a grim knowledge that I was going to come last and again be awarded with the certificate for ‘Good Sportsmanship’ just so I didn’t feel left out, scooped up by my mum at the end who would be ready to console me with a verbal list of all the other things I was so much better at! Nevertheless, I am always up for a challenge so I registered and started training for the event in May! When I started my gym membership in August of the previous year, I found it a challenge to run on the treadmill for 10 minutes at 6 mph. Through slow, steady improvement I was eventually able to happily run for 60 minutes at 8 mph. I initially expected to do the 10 km race in around 47 minutes as I knew I was a bit slower outside but I would have been happy with sub 50. On the day, I managed to complete in 45.31 which I was absolutely delighted by! Somewhere along the course on that sunny May morning, there must have been a Running Bug as I got well and truly bitten. Relishing the discovery of this new skill, I soon found myself completing the Salford City 10k in 43:45 before crossing the finish of the Bupa Great Birmingham Run (my first half marathon) at 1:37:11 in October of the same year. Two days later I registered for the Asics Greater Manchester Marathon.
Aside from the physical benefits of a regular exercise programme, the added variety to daily life that comes with specific events to train for and the confidence boost of participating in an activity that I once thought I would be unable to, I value running as it has proved a vital way to positively maintain my mental health. Finding space for regular ‘me’ time, when I can set aside the minutiae of daily worries and concentrate on doing something positive for myself has equipped me to deal with a range of recent pressures far more effectively than I might once have done. Endorphins notwithstanding, this is at least in part to the new social group that has gradually accumulated around my running; I never realised there were so many of us and I have recently found the sport is not necessarily a solitary pursuit. I will always enjoy the associated freedom of simply heading out on my own but I have also started running with others, learning from those more experienced, sharing my enjoyment with newer, less confident runners and reaping the social benefits. I also started as a sales assistant in a specialist running shop (in addition to working as an art lecturer), an opportunity to continue learning, pass on knowledge and become involved in a wider community. At college, I am about to start a running club for students and am excited to involve younger people. As well as a natural instinct to share what I enjoy, I am aware that I am in a position to encourage female interest in a male-dominated area and hope to see many girls running alongside, or overtaking their male classmates!
Manchester Marathon 2014
Races so far in 2014 include the Great North West and Wilmslow Half Marathons and I was rather pleased to bring my (first) Manchester Marathon in at 3:31:14. With a Good for Age qualifying time now under my belt, I am planning a London 2015 entry. In the meantime, I’m mixing things up a bit, switching from endurance to speed work and would really like to run at least one of the four upcoming 10k races I am registered for in 40 minutes or less, as well as looking forward to experimenting with a bit of trail running before the summer is out. I’m also planning to sneak in another half marathon in August, down in my home town of London; a little test race before the big one!
These days, while I try and avoid too much irritating evangelising at non-runners, I always feel a little sorry when I hear people say it’s ‘just not for them’ as I know that not so long ago that was exactly my sentiment! ‘If only’ I think to myself ‘there was some way I could show you how it feels when you break through those initial mental and physical barriers and suddenly find yourself in the place where running becomes not only an indispensable part of your daily routine but the most natural short cut to feeling better about pretty much everything in life! If only I could give you a free sample of ‘runner’s high’ or a quick taster of what it’s like to realise you have just leapt out of bed voluntarily at 5 am so you have time to squeeze 10k in before work!’ I know however, that like so much on our paths in life, the things we value and benefit from have to be discovered for ourselves. You are a runner. You may just not be running at the moment. If you have been or are currently running regularly, you probably know what I mean. If you are not, then (firstly, well done for reading so far through this account and secondly…) give it a go when you’re ready but don’t stop when it gets hard. That’s when you’re nearly there and you’ll soon be discovering for yourself the truth in the words of Fauja Singh, the British centenarian marathoner who took seriously to running at the age of 89; ‘The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free. Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running.’
Go on. Lace up and get out there. You might surprise yourself!
These days, while I try and avoid too much irritating evangelising at non-runners, I always feel a little sorry when I hear people say it’s ‘just not for them’ as I know that not so long ago that was exactly my sentiment! ‘If only’ I think to myself ‘there was some way I could show you how it feels when you break through those initial mental and physical barriers and suddenly find yourself in the place where running becomes not only an indispensable part of your daily routine but the most natural short cut to feeling better about pretty much everything in life! If only I could give you a free sample of ‘runner’s high’ or a quick taster of what it’s like to realise you have just leapt out of bed voluntarily at 5 am so you have time to squeeze 10k in before work!’ I know however, that like so much on our paths in life, the things we value and benefit from have to be discovered for ourselves. You are a runner. You may just not be running at the moment. If you have been or are currently running regularly, you probably know what I mean. If you are not, then (firstly, well done for reading so far through this account and secondly…) give it a go when you’re ready but don’t stop when it gets hard. That’s when you’re nearly there and you’ll soon be discovering for yourself the truth in the words of Fauja Singh, the British centenarian marathoner who took seriously to running at the age of 89; ‘The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free. Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running.’
Go on. Lace up and get out there. You might surprise yourself!
