Running Success Stories

In a nutshell, I started running this past January. First run out, I ran 5 minutes and felt like I wanted to die. I thought I was in reasonably good shape, I could do the elliptical for an hour, etc, but running always felt so much harder. Fast forward to today: just ran a long run of 8 miles with no stopping, and I'm training for a half marathon in September. It can be done! Just go slow, listen to your body....it really just takes patience and determination.

Not a huge amount to mine, so far, but it's plenty to me. I wasn't healthy as a child. I was thin, hungry and living off cheap junk food. I also had severe asthma, and I'd regularly end up in hospital after attacks. In my secondary school years, a few years before my asthma faded away at 16, I was forced by classmates to take part in the sports day. I avoided it every year, and they called me lazy and signed me up to the 200m run. I collapsed at the end.

Obviously, running was totally out of my reach, so when I started working on my health aged 23 (November 2010) it was the last thing on my mind. I forced myself to do exercise I hated, I tried everything and I spent a lot of money on equipment. I learnt about nutrition, and I learnt how to lose weight in a way that was healthy. One day, I just felt the urge to run a little. I managed about 200m again (didn't collapse this time), and decided to try it another time. I went once around the block at home about a week later, running a little but walking most of it. Even then, it took me four minutes - it was a short route. That was 20th Feb this year.

On 12th April I did my first non-stop mile, up to two miles on 21st April, a 5k on 30th April and 10k on 7th June. After that, I found myself struggling to do 2 miles again - came on here and asked for advice, and was told just to stick at it. Now, I'm running to a standard I'm happy with again. No official races yet - I'm doing my first 5k in October and my first 10k next May, but I'm enjoying it, looking and feeling better than ever, and just this week I took out my future sister-in-law. She was inspired to start running when she heard I was enjoying it, and she's signed up to the same 5k I'm doing. She told me last week that she'd only ever done 1.6 miles before and that she'd walked for some of it - I took her out and we did two miles non-stop. Running is a big part of my identity now - it's who I define myself as - but I guess amongst my own successes I've found that nothing beats inspiring and helping someone else.

I started running in about 2004. At the start, I could *maybe* run for one minute at a time and everything hurt. I worked up to my first 5k that year which was a major accomplishment for me. Then, I sort of dropped it.

I started again in June 2009, about four months after having my first child. I started right back at square one with walking four minutes and running one minute, and built up until I could run 5k again. This time I kept at it until I worked my way up to a 10k, and raced my first 10k in October 2009. I ran pretty consistently until the summer of 2010, about ten weeks into my second pregnancy. I started running once again after having my younger son (born in March 2011, started running in May) and worked my way up to my first half marathon in October 2011. I ran two more Halfs earlier this year and I'm now training for my fourth Half. I've scheduled my fifth Half and my first 30k for March 2013 and will think about the full marathon after that.

All that is just to say, consistency is key. The results will come- just keep at it!