I’ll start by apologising for the inevitable long post. I’m not good at being concise!
Two years ago on this very day I downloaded the C25K app onto my phone, picked MJ to guide me through, and shuffled my way through W1R1. A then 54 year old mum of 3 who’d never even run at school - only an ill-conceived 5k fun run - it wasn’t! - about 20 years beforehand. But my journey had begun. I remember feeling “part of the gang” shuffling my 1 minute intervals as the “real” runners on the Downs in Bristol glided by. 🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️
I followed C25K to the letter and didn’t miss a beat. I loved it, graduating on August 18th proud as punch. 🏅🎉
Parkrun soon followed. Eastville Park in Bristol was my local PR of choice, although closer to my home is Ashton Court. Brilliant occasionally, but it’s home of “The Hill” (2.5k) and not to be taken lightly! My little Lab, Flossie, accompanies me on most of my runs, and she and I were awarded “Volunteers of the Year for Bar(k)code Scanning” last year! 😅🐾🐕🏃♀️ I also helped celebrate Eastville’s first and second birthdays, wearing an elephant ONEsie and a “two-two” respectively!
PR tourism had (and will be again) a huge part of my life and I’ve met many VRBs from these forums who’ve become firm ARB’s. A few of the regulars in our growing posse are Dexy5 , UpTheStanley , Sandie1961 , TailChaser and Katnap - but there are many more and you know who you are. ❤️ It has been an absolute pleasure to meet you, and I hope you’ll agree we’ve had a ton of fun. Last year I drove countless miles on Saturday mornings and hope we can do it again before tooooo long. 🤞I’m really missing it. 😩
Last year I ran my first ever races too. The Bristol 10k, the Bristol Race for Life 10k, the Severn Bridge 10k (27 degrees 🥵) and the 10 mile Great South Run. I also worked my way up to running HM distance in September 2019, in readiness for the Bath HM on March 15th - except it ended up being a virtual race as I chose not to attend. Instead I ran 13.1 miles through the streets of Bristol wearing my race bib and my Alzheimer’s Society Bath HM top. I’d ironed on the words “For Mum” as I’d lost her to old age and dementia in October. It was very poignant, as although it was lashing with rain, cars were honking their horns at me, and other runners doing the same all smiled and gave virtual high fives! ❤️❤️ We were duly awarded our medals and finishers tops by Bath which was lovely. 😀
I also ran this year’s Bristol 10k virtually and got the all important bling, as well as the London Vitality 10000 - who didn’t offer bling. Meanies!! 😅
So, here’s to another year of running “with” all you wonderful people. It’s such fun posting on here, and reading the adventures of others. I shall chip away slowly at my lowly PBs (33:15 5k, 1:16:20 10k and maybe even my HM time of 2:55:17), but speed isn’t my priority. What is, is running for fun, and I’ll continue doing so as long as my body will allow me to. It’s the bonus of leisurely paced running I guess - all I’ve suffered injury-wise is a broken toe caused by .... yoga! 😅
Sorry about the waffle! You’re all to blame as you’ve all been so supportive! ❤️
Written by
cheekychipmunks
Half Marathon
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Congratulations on your 2 year runniversary cheekychipmunks. You've had quite an adventure by the sound of it. Hope you and Flossie have many more running adventures 🏃♀️🏃♀️🐕🐕
Huge congratulations to you cheekychipmunks. 2 years of fun, laughter, sweat and tears. It has been so nice getting to know you Virtually on the forum, actually at various parkruns, and also running alongside you in both the Great Bristol 10k and the Great South Run last year.
Thanks Dexy, yes we’ve had some serious fun haven’t we? I can’t help wonder how well we’d have run in London if the Vitality had gone ahead - I have a feeling we’d all have had a little too much fun the evening before! 🥂 🍻 🎉😅
Amazing Cheeky!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 You’ve been a constant inspiration and such a wonderful VRB! Your achievements are phenomenal, just like you!! Happy Runniversary!!May there be many more fun adventures!! ❤️❤️❤️
Aww thanks Fab. You’re one of the first VRBs I made and I was in awe of your first PR! I’m so happy to have “met” you, and I hope we can do a PR meetup one day. 😘
Well done cheekychipmunks on your two year anniversary, or should that be runiversary, great photo's, I especially like the the photo of you and Flossie and with Dexy5 and UTS, next Thursday will be my second runiversary, not from starting C25K but graduating, it's amazing how we remember all those dates of milestone runs, once again congratulations.
Thanks so much Al. Embarrassingly I can remember more running stats than I can baby milestones - as I keep on discovering when my daughter asks me about what to expect from our grandson! 😅
Hope you have a great runniversary next week too! 🎉🎉🎉
Three cheers for the cheekiest chipmunk on the planet! (Good job I spell checked...that came out as cheesiest....I could have been at least one VRB fewer!! ). You have been a real gift to all of us CC, steady, stable and supportive, while some idiots (me!) get themselves into all sorts of trouble by trying to push the boundaries too much. Your support and encouragement to us all have been amazing. The best living advert for the diesel engine ! Wishing you many happy years of running and mischief!! 🥂🤗
You’re no idiot BC! You’re a proper runner, trying to better yourself whilst I’m content bimbling along! My diesel engine gets me to distances I wouldn’t imagine possible when starting out my running journey, and I often think of you when I’m chugging away! 😅
I hope so cheeky. I was really looking forward to meeting up with everyone. Bit concerned about being the only sober one on the night !! I think that I do need to slow down for now while this knee sorts itself, then we will see. Hope you have a celebration today !!
I’m sure we’d have behaved really BC - maybe just a little bit jolly and over excited (as per usual in my case!)
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head as regards taking care of your knee. Here - borrow a few of my 🐌 🐌. I still have a herd of them to help me along on occasion!
Oh I know Cheeky I’ll know for next time😊 and will definitely be researching where to run and stay (near parkruns of course) Fluked accommodation within walking distance of two of them last year and still get a giggle at being caught up in the 2 tunnel series in Bath when I was running off my jet lag! Oh yeah! Definitely will be back. 🇬🇧 ❤️🏃♀️
We were literally a couple of days from meeting up weren’t we IP? So unfair. 😩 But yes, we will - maybe in Bristol in September? Who knows. 🤞
No run for me today as I wimped out and ran a “special” 10k yesterday to get the better weather. Half W1R1 MJ intervals, half bimble! Plus we went to the Arboretum yesterday for a lovely walk too. I thought of you of course! 😘
There was a shortish queue to get into the car park and plenty of families walking around, but it was easy to stay socially distanced. Missed the cafe by 2 minutes as we didn’t realise it closed at 4pm. Lesson learned!
Ooh glad you got to the arboretum! I had a beautiful walk on Weds pm on my own - like you I was wandering along in my own world till I came to the café & it had just shut! It was a real tonic to be there. I saw a great spotted woodpecker & a hare which was a bonus! 🙂
It’s a fabulous place isn’t it Slinkyminky ? I went with my daughter, dog and grandson and had a lovely stroll just admiring the beautiful trees and their shades of green. Can’t wait to go back - and we’ll both know about the cafe next time won’t we?! 😅
Congratulations! Happy Runniversary! All those miles, blisters, the heat, the dust, the rain, the snow, the ice, the highs and lows, the chafing, the tumbles, it's all forgotten when we turn out for the next run.
Great fun! Who knew! Certainly not us when we took our first tentative steps of Couch to 5k. We could have never know what adventures lay ahead
Long may you continue to have fun out there. Here's to the next run! xxx
Haha yes, have experienced all those things MW, but even the less pleasant ones don’t bother me as they all add up to make a wonderful varied running experience. Yes, here’s to many more years of running! 🏃♀️👍
Thanks so much linda9389 ! Nothing could have surprised me more than how much I took to running. And all the support on here has been the cherry on the cake! 🍰😀
Happy runniversary Cheeky! I became quite emotional there. You are such a ray of sunshine and I am so glad that our love of running has brought so many new real friendships. I’m sure we can gather up a few more over the next year xx
Congrats on your runniversary cheekychipmunks! A lovely collage of photos and many happy memories by the sound of it (apart from the toe, of course. Yoga??!😂). Here's to the miles ahead! 🥂🍾🏃🏽♀️😀x
Fantastic Cheeky - what an amazing list of achievements over those 2 years! It was great to meet up with you at 50th parkrun celebrations ( mine and Dexy5 's) - I'm always impressed at how far you're prepared to drive on a Saturday morning !
Congratulations and here's to many more years of happy running !👍😀
I wouldn’t have missed those celebrations Jonathan, I’d have had massive FOMO! 😅
Luckily I love driving so no PR meet-up is too far for me. Had to draw the line at going up to Lyme Park and back in one day, so I drove up on the Friday evening. That would have been too bonkers even for this bonkers running lady! 🤣
Congratulations cheekychipmunks, what a journey it’s been for all of us!🏃♀️🏃♂️
I had MJ as my coach too, and I never wanted to let him down.
I’ve done umpteen events, and got my 50 Parkrun red t-shirt just before COVID-19 sent us all scurrying for cover😦
I’m so looking forward to Parkrun starting up again, whenever that is. In the meantime we’ve got lots of virtual runs to do so we should be grateful for that👍
Here’s to the next year’s running for us all. Take care and enjoy yourself!😊
Happy runniversary Cheeky! 🎉🏃♀️ What a truly amazing list of achievements in such a short time. I'm glad for you that running has become such an important part of your life. I always enjoy your posts and the fact that even if things haven't gone so well, you always see the positive and share some optimism for better days. Wishing you many more fabulous runs with faithful Flossie 🐾X
Awww thank you Slinky. 🙏🏻 It’s definitely been a life changer, that’s for sure. And of course I wish I’d started 30 years earlier! 😅
I do like to find the positive in all situations, especially at the moment, but thank you for your kind words. I think running is helping us all at the moment. 😘
I played netball and lacrosse at school and disliked them both. I also played tennis, but mostly doubles so not much running. Basically horse riding was my thing - zero running there except for trying to catch him when he didn’t fancy it! 😅 🐎
Why thank you Runsome, I’ve really enjoyed it! 😀🏃♀️
Golly. This was a beautiful read. The empowerment and richness running brings. You have come so far with races, distances and memories that can always be a part of you! I think you have the right idea totally, leisurely steady running with the occasional PB attempt. Here are to many more runs and memories for you to make x
Totally agree. To run HM is an incredible achievement and one which required so much behind those runs. You are right in not taking it for granted too as every run, however good or bad it feels at the time is still a run. Keep on keeping on 😊
Great report on a great two years CC. I do seem to recognise a few faces in that collage . Which do you reckon has clocked up the most miles as a result - your car or your shoes?
Yes, I’m sure those faces are pretty familiar UTS. 😀 As for miles, well I don’t know, it’s a tough call! Plenty more miles to be had in the car and shoes fortunately! 👍🏃♀️😅
Congratulations, CC, on two glorious years of running. You have always been a great inspiration on this forum, so thank you again for that. Wishing you many more happy runs.
Thanks so much Stephen. I’ve had a wonderful couple of years of running and I’m simply happy to repay all the inspiration I’ve received from you and the other wonderful members. ❤️ Without all the encouragement on here, who knows, I might not have gone beyond 5k. 👍😀
Lovely to read all about your adventures with running!!! I find lots of similarities to my own story (even running a race to raise funds for dementia and losing my mum too on January 1st). We have been able to run again since May 2nd and I have only missed 2 days since then finally achieving one of my goals yesterday (5k in 30 mins. ) Can't imagine not being able to run now. It has become an Enormous part of my life.
I’m sad to hear about your mum Tjcp. Didn’t you find running with her in your mind really empowering? I bet she would have been proud of you! ❤️
Wow, great to hear you achieved the elusive 5k in 30 minutes. I have no idea if I’ll ever reach that goal, but a goal it is and I’ll keep chipping away for as long as it takes. Might be quite some time! 😅
Yes, I do!!! Empowering is the exact word!! Thanks.
Good luck with chipping away the seconds to achieve your goals. My first 5k 3 years ago was about 38 minutes, I think, and I was so proud of myself!! My best 10k is 1 hour 5 mins. so trying for 1 hour might be my next objective. At least, it's something I can do on my own and won't get cancelled! Faster half marathons are not really on my wish list though. Just enjoying them and finishing 10 mins. or so before the time limit of 2.5 hours is good enough for me.
Just had a thought. Why don't some of us organise our own virtual run where we live? Not a race, just a run we could share together and send a photo of where we did it.....
That would be fantastic Tjcp ! I love that idea. 😀 The group of us that had entered the London Vitality 10000 all ran our 10ks locally and sent run reports and photos on the day (25th May to be exact!) It was wonderful running knowing that VRBs on here were doing the same. So yes, let’s do that! 👏👏
I am a lot slower than you, but happy with my times which every so often I can better! Running is so very individual and inclusive all at once! ❤️
Yes very well thank you. 😊 Running took a two month break so I could make some inroads into bringing some sort of control into our garden. Re-started C25k at week 4 and ran my first 25mins run this morning. On line tutoring has taken a lot of time, but I have a 4½week break now. My husband is in the extremely clinically vulnerable category which obviously changed the way we lived. How have things been with you in these strange times?
You’ve had a busy time of it by the sounds of things over61andstilltrying ! Good move restarting where you did in C25K. Hope you’re enjoying it! 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️ It might help bring some normality to these very bizarre times for you. Hope your husband is staying chipper.
All good with me thanks. We’ve been so fortunate having all the kids back living at home, including our older daughter, her partner and our little grandson! Lots of running too. 😀It could have been a lot worse and I feel very lucky. 🙏🏻
Ah! How lovely having an extended period with extra family members. Yes, I am really pleased to have re-started my running. I see it as an investment in my health and have so appreciated the extra stamina that I am sure it has given me. I have always maintained some exercise but never running until I began C25k. In the past when I gardened I needed to take breaks, now I just don't need to. 😊🌸 I don't seem to have the bucket loads of enthusiasm that you display! Sometimes I have. But I hope that reading your posts I shall catch a bit more. Many times running has been a discipline. I seem such a long way from my distance PB of 13km and still have such a back log of tasks both inside and outside that PB may stay for a long time.
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. Which do you reckon has clocked up the most miles as a result - your car or your shoes?
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