Last weekend my Mum and a few of her friends decided they would kick-start a new healthy lifestyle by starting to run by following the NHS Couch to 5k Plan. Trouble was my Mums friends don't live near here. Ones in Cambridge, the other somewhere equally far away. They had each other for motivation but not when it was most needed most - when they were running. After Mums first run I could tell she was despondent. After some encouraging words I could see she was still disheartened and in a moment of madness I told her I'd join her for her next run - for motivation and to help her feel less self conscientious. Her face lit up like a child in a sweet shop!
Unfortunately I'd failed to consider the fact that I have never run (apart from during high school.... but even then I used to just walk around the sports field) so I don't have any idea of how to. Oh yeah... then I remembered my old ankle injury - since then, whenever I have needed to try to run (such as for a bus etc) it has been excruciating and I have ended up limping. Eeek! This could see my old injury flare up again.
Ooops... then there was the tiny wee issue of shoes. Despite being a hoarder of trainers in my youth, I now actually don't own a pair of decent trainers. I have my very old and very battered Adidas Shell Toes (which even when they were new aren't practical for running in) or my Converse All-Stars - again far from ideal! Thankfully this was the easiest problem to overcome and after a quick trip to Penzance I was the proud owner of a pair of snazzy new Pumas.
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| The pink socks don't quite match! |
Now I had the shoes, but not the skills, strength or stamina.... Hehehe... this could be quite entertaining. I could end up injured or just plain exhausted/broken.
Anyway today was the day. After work Mum came round and we set off. We had planned to walk up out of the village first before starting the programme. The last thing either of us wanted was to start out running up a pretty steep hill. So after a 10 min brisk walk we started with a 1 min jog followed by a 90second walk... which we repeated 7 more times before a 5 min walk home.
I was very surprised with how I coped as I didn't expect to manage at all. However the first jog was OK. I was very flat footed and ungraceful but it was over much sooner than I expected. I am just glad I had Mum with me or I would have probably tried to sprint for a minute and then died very quickly. We easily got to the half way point but after that the minute jogs were starting to feel longer. I was glad to finish them and by the last one I didn't actually think I would manage to sustain it, but I did.
We got home and the Garmin said we had done exactly 2 miles which had taken us 30 mins (of which only 8 mins were jogging). We wont win any gold medals for that pace but for my very first attempt at a run I am pretty pleased. I know it's still early days and it wont always be easy but today I am feeling confident that I may stick with this and help my Mum achieve her goals whilst also enjoying a new sport.
2 comments:
You can do it,my friend! I'm proud of you and your Mum,especially for the doing it together,those are priceless memories you're building with her,neither of you will forget :)
As long as you follow the schedule you will be fine. Glad you enjoyed it and remember you don't have to attack every hill like you do on your bike ;-)
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