5K – such a small word, such a hard mountain to climb....

Following a year of misery and pain through ovarian cysts, operations, cancer diagnosis and more operations, my posts over the next year will follow my journey to return to fitness and raising awareness (and maybe some money) for Ovarian Cancer.  I know many of you have enjoyed reading my fitness blogs, but I am now hijacking the page for my own personal story – hope you don’t mind too much...

5K - 3.1 miles...

Always sounds pretty doable.

Seems to be the entry number for most “beginners” races – then why does it feel so freaking hard to do?? I have years of fitness and knowledge and this little thing like running has made me wake up and realise what it feels like to be stupidly unfit.

I see my running friends posting about the 8 miles they have done or doing 4 marathons in one month. They make it look easy... and with this in mind, I pledged to run 50 miles throughout May 2016. That’s 2 marathons over 4 weeks.  It sounded a big enough challenge but still achievable.  In a fit of positivity and that cute little 5K number, I also signed up for the Race for Life event in 2 weeks. And I currently can’t even run a mile without stopping a few times and cursing under my breath that something so intrinsic to the human body can be so fiendishly difficult to achieve.

Yes, I know about taking it easy, building the miles, having rest days, mixing walking, jogging and running. I know about stretching and nutrition. What I have underestimated is the crushing psychological trauma that, hey baby, you can’t do it. You are going to look like a red faced sweating tomato with aches and pains in places you didn’t know, be conscious of your wobbling backside as you pound the pavements and far far from the image of casually running over the line with a smile.  Let alone you thought it would be a “good idea” to complete the race in 30 minutes.

Luckily the internet is blessed with a hundred running plans and programmes to help you on your way. All I need now is the doggedness not to give in – and I have.  I feel that I have been given this opportunity to push through these stupid self-esteem crushing and humble-making barriers.  I could be in hospital now or worse, but the cancer is gone and at 6.30am I am about to put my trainers on and go for a loosely termed “run” to get those miles in my legs..................wish me luck x

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