So I ran my first half marathon in 2010… it was the Cardiff Half Marathon which turned out to be not quite a full half marathon. However, I’m certain that given how far back I started.. I definitely did a full half! I then did another in 2011, followed by another 2 in 2012. They were nothing special, more of an ‘entered on a whim’ followed by ‘oh god it’s getting closer, I better start training soon’, and then a ‘Oh look at this nice t-shirt that is massively too big but will make a good pyjama top’. All the same, I did enjoy my 13.1 mile ‘plods’.
Throughout these few years I never managed to catch the famous running bug, no matter how hard, fast (taken with a pinch of salt!) or far I ran, so I then decided to take the big jump and enter a full marathon. I figured what better way to make me run and motivate me than the seemingly impossible task of keeping going for THAT long, but I’ll go in to the completion of the dreaded 26.2 at another time!
You see my brother runs, and he is definitely a ‘runner’, a pretty good one too in my opinion (although as his little sister, I am biased). For him, a marathon isn’t really anything hugely challenging *I can only dream*. My mum also runs, not quite as far as a marathon, but she has done a few half’s, 10k’s and up until recently had better times than me in every distance. What could be more shameful than being beaten by your mum!?
So I guess if I’m honest, a large part of my motivation comes from my desire to take after my brother… and beat my mum! But also to achieve something for myself and be able to say ‘I run’ without then feeling the need to explain that actually it’s more of a plod, and I’m not very good at all!
I think I am starting to develop the ‘running bug’, I just need to work on improving my motivation to not give up on the bad days (I am trying… honest!). I joined a running club earlier in the year, which has already helped hugely and provided me with targets to aim for. I know it’ll be the key to me improving my running (along with the actual running itself), I just need to stop worrying about being too slow or coming last (those things that most of us worry about, despite knowing that it really won’t be that bad!)
I think this is definitely a big enough blab for one day…. now on to the running!
notsonaturalrunner 