This is a copy of my post from the Marathon Forum... hopefully of interest to C25k-ers who are wondering whether they can do this “running stuff”!
So yesterday I was down in Bournemouth for the Rotary Quarter Marathon. Running tourism at its best, and (having thought about it) that was my favourite run ever!!
I had a glorious 24 hours at the seaside in the sunshine and (best of all) met up with three other virtual running buddies - @Berksrover , @Ripcurlrana71 and @F1ipperation . Berksrover and I had run the Reading Parkrun a few weeks ago, so we had already met but it was fab especially to finally meet up with Rip.
All of us had started the C25k programme almost exactly a year ago, and Rip and I decided soon after graduation that we were “running twins”, in that our progress in time and distance seemed to be near-identical, reaching 5k, 10k etc milestones at almost exactly the same time. And our Strava stats remain very very similar.
The Bournemouth course was wonderful - out on a flat run alongside the beach, then up and back along the cliffs. Whilst some of us found the weather “a tad warm” 😉 I have to say I enjoyed every minute of it.
We started all running in a big group, then I decided to try to keep pace with Berksrover, so the two of us pulled away. I managed to keep up with him until the halfway point, when I waved him off into the distance 😀. And while the next few KM’s were hard, I got a second wind in time for the steep downhill bit and the flat finishing straight - so I finished much faster and happier than I’d managed in any previous race.
Met up with everyone afterwards and took lots of photos.
Utterly amazing how far we have all come in just 12 months - all of us with similar stories of tentatively “giving this running malarkey a try”, with no real expectations of success, and now we are all running 10k’s and more very regularly, have all lost weight, got fitter and are enjoying running so much.
My personal headlines (as someone who will be 62 later this year) are that I am lighter than I have been for over 20 years, having lost over a stone in the last 12 months, have lost 4 inches around the waist, and am probably fitter than at any time since my teens!
I started the programme when I first stepped tentatively on my brand new treadmill on 15th April last year and I still say that the very first W1R1 session was the hardest of them all!
I completed the programme in June, got up to 5k shortly afterwards, then did @Ju-Ju’s “Bridge to 10k” programme, and ran three 10k races last year. The last of these was one for which I didn’t train properly (cold weather + gremlins), the result of which is that I didn’t enjoy it and injured myself. Lesson learned the hard way! Another lesson learned along the way is the value of tapering - I really notice the difference.
And then since Xmas I built up the distance and ran the Reading HM at the end of March. Not fast, not pretty, but I did run all the way round, which was my only objective 😀
And then yesterday, back to the 10k distance that I love (HM is just too far!), with the sun shining, meeting up with VRBs, along such a beautiful route... yes, I think that was my favourite run EVER 😀
Massive thanks to all my VRBs (you know who you are!) for all the much-needed support along the way, and for everyone in these forums for the support, advice and just being there.
It’s been quite a journey, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this year has in store 😀
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