5K – 10K – a leap of faith

After 4 weeks of steady plodding and jogging, something amazing happened.  All of a sudden I could “run”.  It might not be a fast run, an elegant run, but it was a run that kept going without stopping for miles.

The human body is amazing. From weeks of wondering about the sanity of doing something that seemed to be so tough, so painful that I never thought I would get to grips with it, it suddenly clicked. 

When I was training, in my mind my goal was to get “running in my legs” which basically means to get your body used to the action of running. It takes time for the nerve impulses to be used to firing in a certain way, to build more capillaries in the areas that you need them the most, to get your joints used to the pounding and movement and to be able to control your breathing. 

This meant two things.  Patience and Persistence.  These are my personal tips to help you (they really helped me xx)

1. Run on a regular basis.  Look at your calendar and note down the days you can fit in 30 – 60 mins of running.  Don’t worry if you can only run a mile or two on some days – it is the regularity of the running that helps more than the distances in the beginning.
2. Start a running diary.  Note down the date and time you ran for, how it felt – sometimes runs of the same distance a great, sometimes you have a rubbish run – don’t lose heart
3. Wear clothes that make you feel comfortable.  Nothing worse than an annoying bra strap that falls down or wearing tight clothing that makes you feel self-conscious.  Get the best pair of trainers for you.  Try wearing additional insoles for comfort. Wear a buff to keep your hair off your face and the ear phones in your ears.
4. Run at YOUR pace. Don’t get hung-up on what other people are doing. If you like running fast and then having a walk – do that. If you like to run just slightly faster than a walk – do that.  Start to enjoy the rhythm of your steps. It becomes hypnotic.
5. Keep relaxed – try not to get tense when it starts feeling tough. Slow out breaths.  Chill. My go-to idea is to imaging that I still have miles to run and that there is no worry – if I think I am close to the end of my run, I start to tense up  - no idea why Lol!  Let your arms and shoulders be relaxed and hold no tension. Control your out breath. Big sighs.
6. Keep going.  Try to shorten the walking bits and each time, try to run a little longer, a little further.  Keep going.  Try not to stop when the urge comes, try to push yourself mentally to put one foot in front of another – the feeling does go – and it may come back, but really the key to this running lark is in the word itself – run. Not walk.

Be Patience

Be Positive

Be Persistence

If any of you would like to help towards raising some money for Ovarian Cancer - here is the link to my Justgiving page.

Rachel's 12 Months for Ovarian Cancer