Lifestyle

My first half marathon: how I learned to love running

I used to hate running. In fact, I’d go as far as saying I had a fear of running, which was largely rooted in some horrific cross-country memories at secondary school. But it wasn’t just outdoor running that I objected to; I refused to run on a treadmill either. I once saw a girl fall off a treadmill and it looked embarrassing and painful. I’ll stick to the cross trainer thank you very much, only an idiot could manage to fall off that.

But after my first year of university I had succumbed to the inevitable ‘fresher’s 15.’ For those unfamiliar with ‘fresher’s 15’ it refers to putting on weight due to the excess of first year, which includes way too much pesto pasta, extra meals at 3am, and a whole lot of calorific booze. I decided that:

1)   I should stop eating so much pasta.
2)   I needed to start exercising more.

I started doing a whole range of exercise and decided I should give running a go. I remember going for a run around my local woods – a route that now takes me about 15 minutes – and I seriously struggled. I had to keep stopping and starting and it was an all round unpleasant experience. Clearly, I needed to work on this.

Having gotten over my outdoor running fear, my fear of treadmill running was combated by one of my friends telling me to simply ‘get over it and do it.’ So I did. I didn’t fall off and I decided it wasn’t so bad: you get to watch TV and run, I could work with that.

As I improved at running, I began to actually enjoy it. Something about just getting out there and running is seriously good for both mind and body.

So this year I set myself a new year’s resolution that I would actually keep. I decided to step up my game and run a half marathon. Having worked with Mencap charity before, I gave them a call and before I knew it I was signed up for the Royal Parks Foundation on 6 October this year.

The great thing about running is that it’s a sport where you can quickly see yourself improving. By following a three-month training plan, I went from being a 20-minute run kind of girl, to regularly smashing out some seriously long distance runs. With running, you can build up resistance quite quickly, which makes it a pretty satisfying sport as you don’t have to wait too long to see results. Plus, ANYONE can do it.

Two weeks before the half marathon, I did a practice run and managed to complete the distance in two hours. I’d been aiming for about 2 hours 15 so was really pleased with that time. The bad news was that somehow, on this long run, I’d managed to screw up my knee, and the pain refused to go away over the next two weeks.

With hindsight, I think a lack of stretching was to blame. I’d always do a few stretches afterwards but never really warmed up, which, if I think about it now, was a pretty stupid thing to do.

Anyway, I was still determined to complete the race. I did a whole lot of stretches, bought some overpriced knee supports from Boots and hoped for the best.

It was all going great until about 8 miles in when my knee gave way and the pain was agony. With 5 miles to go I uses a combination of walking/hobbling/running/trying not to cry and, although it slowed me down, I was still moving. At the 12-mile mark, pure adrenaline set in and I just ran through the pain. I could soon see the finish line and my god did I want to be over it.

At 2 hours 26 minutes, my time wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for, but considering the amount of pain I was in, I am just proud that I completed the race.

I think that anyone, with the right training (and for god’s sake STRETCHING) can run a half marathon, and feel a great sense of achievement with it.

Look at this way: I used to have an aversion to running and yet when it came to it I refused to let a dodgy knee stop me from crossing the finish line.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I might have a bit of a rest first though.

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