I like setting myself challenges. Sometimes arbitrary ones. At the start of lockdown I decided that I would push myself and try to get back into running in the process. I set myself a modest goal, starting on March 16th 2020. Run 365 km in the next 365 days. To some seasoned runners this likely sounds easy, but for me, it was a tough ask. Even though my first-ever job was in a running shop, I’ve never really been a runner. Not being in the best of shape, initially it was pretty rough, but after pushing though the first few weeks it really slowly got easier. Like everyone else I basically started out with the Couch 2 5K plan, and mixed in a lot of walking.
Bit by bit it got better, and I was running more and walking less. Never really got much faster, though. There were some setbacks along the way. Going from nothing to running 4 or 5 times a week did lead to picking up some niggles. I also, stupidly managed a stretch of 13 days when I was running every day. With all this, and a month off when I got Covid-19, and moved house in the same 2-week stretch.
There was a point at which running transitioned from something that I dreaded but wanted to push myself to do, to something I actually looked forward to. I enjoy running now, I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself for the amount of time that I decide to go out.
With the end of the challenge that I and set in sight I wanted something else to shoot for. The 365 km was actually easier that I had expected. As it stands I’ve already hit more than 500 km with a few days left to go. I decided I wanted something new to shoot for. As we’re still in the throes of a global pandemic, I won’t really be able to celebrate my 30th birthday with friends in the way that I’d hoped, so why not make it something memorable.
30 km covered on my 30th birthday. Much like my 365 km in 365 challenge, this isn’t something that some people would find easy, but is a challenge for me. Until recently, I’d never run more than 8 km in a single day. Now that is up to 10 km which I can manage in just over 70 mins. I’m not going to go out and run 30 km in one go, I just don’t think I could manage it. Instead, I’ll be splitting my runs up. The thinking right now is going out for a 10 km run first thing and then following it with multiple 5 km runs through the rest of the day. The estimate right now is about 3 and a half hours of me actually running (I’m sure it’ll end up with closer to 4). What’s really motivating me to do this though is I decided to try to raise money for charity in the process, and that has made me feel a lot more accountable. The response I had was very overwhelming, and with 6 weeks left to go I have raised over £1000 — and you can add to that hereover at JustGiving. I’m humbled by that.
If you’d like to keep up with my progress you can follow me over on Strava, where, if all goes to plan, you’ll see a flurry of activity on April 29th.
I’ve read things for a long time that talked about becoming an insert blank here (e.g blogger, podcaster, artist) — the single thing that you absolutely had to do was show up. I had been showing up without thinking about it. So, I guess I’m a runner now?