The Running Man(dy)

After my last run, I look fine, I smiled the whole time!

About a month ago if anyone had asked me if I ever ran I would have laughed at them, run? me? Not even for the bus if I can help it I would have wittily retorted.  It's just not something I thought I would like, I'd seen runners, they were sweaty, they were out of breath and they just looked knackered.  

Now lets fast forward to today and I'm just about to move onto week three of the C25K program and you know what?  I absolutely love it. I smile the whole way around, especially at passers by (yeah, look at me, I'm a runner, heehee) Ok, so we're at the end of week two and that means I have a brisk warm up walk for 5 minutes and then I run for 90 seconds and then walk for 2 minutes and repeat for a total of 20 minutes followed by a warm down walk for another 5 minutes at the end.  I can't even begin to tell you how good it feels to be able to do this at the tender age of 42 and a half, I feel like Paula Radcliffe.  My coach on the podcast is Jo Wiley, she's been there you know, she knows how it feels.  I did start with Sarah Millican and then, well, she just wasn't all that motivating really, I later read somewhere that she was eating crisps whilst recording the podcasts but I'm not sure if that was true or a rumour.

It's funny how your mindset can be changed by exercise and I do feel that I was in a place where I was ready to start running, I was already walking ten to fifteen thousand steps a day and I was definitely outpacing Holly on our daily walks, even when we have our power hour walks, incidentally as soon as I put on my running gear she hides in her crate and growls at me, she knows, this isn't some kind of leisure jaunt (well except it is really) this is serious running business.

The first run, I did literally feel like I was dying at the end of it, possibly why I'm glowing!

Whilst you might imagine I have a playlist containing lots of dance music with heavy beats you might be surprised to find that I like running to musicals, they keep me at a pace which is slow enough not to exhaust or kill me and I quite like running over the brow of a hill whilst listening to a crescendo in the music, trust me it works, I do however admit that I also quite like running to Disney, bouncy happy music and sometimes, just sometimes I run to David Guetta but don't tell anyone I told you that or you'll ruin my reputation.

Another thing I've obviously had to embrace is running gear, I've never owned so much lycra, if you'll allow me to, let me transport you to the world of Karrimor Run, I absolutely love the stuff and it's so cheap from Sports Direct, I have 3 pairs of Karrimor Run trainers, my excuse is that Looby can also use them as we have the same size feet.  Oh and one other thing, if you are a woman of ample bosom, you might want to consider the humble shock absorber sports bra, it keeps my boobs where they are supposed to be and being an F cup I really do need it.

I'm going to share regular posts about me, The Running Man(dy), hopefully it might just inspire more people of my age to take up running or any age and size in fact, running isn't just for the teeny tiny sporty ones, there are so many people out there doing the same program you are more likely to get encouragement from others in the park than you are to be heckled, there's a running revolution out there you know and that makes me feel good, I just wish I'd shown as much respect to my body in my 20's and 30's!

I have of course still got a very long way to get to 30 minutes of solid running but you know what, I feel like I've got this, I set myself challenges all of the time in my life, work and business and mostly I succeed!

I use affiliate marketing to facilitate the feeding of my children, I also write great content just because I care and I want to inspire more people to get active and to get out there!