First post

Hello and thanks for stopping by. You are probably here because you know me and I emailed you a link to this blog. It's yet another novelty to trick me into feeling motivated to run. There's nothing wrong with that, I'll take all the motivational tactics I can get.

Here's the background:

For years now I have latched onto various fads to keep me fit. I spent 6 months learning to kickbox. I spent a year with a personal trainer getting fit only to gradually let it slide again. Now I have a dog and go out for walks every day, but I'm still hardly what you'd call a fit person. I just don't have that same drive that some of my friends and family do. Plus I find it really hard to fit everything into my week as it is. Currently I am: working full-time; singing in two bands; taking care of and walking my dog; going to dog-training classes,trying to write, and so on. This is pretty standard living for me. When you factor in all the TV I have to watch and all the nights out I enjoy going on, there doesn't seem much time left over for anything else.

So why am I putting myself through the pain of training to run? (And trust me, it is painful). Well this year I am helping my friend raise a lot of money for Cancer Research. We are committed to a series of fundraising events and I figured one more couldn't hurt. Enter the 10K.

I am currently quite unfit. But bear in mind that even when I have been fit, I have still been crap at running, indoor or out. I can do 20 minutes on a cross trainer and feel great afterwards. Stick me on a treadmill for 30 seconds and I'll be wheezing and panting like a dirty phonecall before you can say "on your marks".

I have asthma, dodgy knees and am carrying a few extra pounds. So in starting to run I am literally taking it in baby steps. I have a beginner's running program which I began three weeks ago. Then I was walking a minute, running a minute and so on. Three weeks later and I am running for three minutes and walking for three minutes. I have 12 weeks till D-day and the idea that I could be fit enough to run for an hour non-stop seems insane.

So I am writing this blog in an effort to keep anyone who is interested updated on my progress. I hope to pick up a few extra sponsors along the way, and you'll find my sponsorship page elsewhere on this site. The thought of people donating money is a big motivation.

I am training with a group of practically professionals. David organises all our sessions. He came 14th out of 2,500 runners in the 10k last year. Then there's Rita, an American girl who won a sports scholarship to a big college in the States. And her professional footballer fiance. Honestly, he plays in the Highland League. There's a few others who are all very fit and they all swish swish swish around the track while I tolddle along several laps behind them every week. We train on an outdoor athletics track in the wind, rain and frost.



I am just home from a training session with them and I almost threw up at the end of it. With 30 seconds of running to go I kept thinking to myself "enough...I ....can't....keep....going...any...longer" but the thought of all that sponsorship money people had been so generous to give me kept me going. Then as I walked around the track to cool down at the end, I really thought I might vomit. I have never experienced feeling sick through exercise before. Drink, yes. (SORRY MUM) Food, yes. But never exercise. Even scarier is the thought that this time next week I'm supposed to be able to run for twice as long as I did tonight. I'll give it a bash and hopefully the contents of my stomach will stay put!

Thanks for reading!