Sorry I'm a little late, I had good intentions of having everything written up ready to paste early doors but was so wiped out after work yesterday. 8.25 hours driving in a 11.75 hr shift was something of a marathon in itself... 😴
I'm afraid it had to come up this week again. 🙈 Having recently ticked off my 50km goal, and well ahead of my original schedule I have been considering the rewards of reaching goals. Obviously as I don't do events medals and t-shirts don't feature but I have definitely been rewarded by most of my goals in one way or another.
This one I am definitely proud of. I'm proudest that I never actually doubted that I could do it. There was no point that the words "I can't do this" ever featured at all. I'm also proud that I didn't allow self doubt to creep in afterwards ruining my enjoyment of the run as it did after my first FM. Was it fast enough? Good enough. Yes it was. I enjoyed all of it. My "Smiles over miles" motto was well and truly lived up to. 😁
Any yet it still isn't my proudest moment. 🤔 My proudest moment, in spite of ticking off 5 & 10km, 10 miles, 15, 20, FM, is still my Couch to 5K, W5 R3. That 20 min run, which I did think that maybe I couldn't do... and I did. That feeling of achievement still eclipses all that followed. It was the first time I really believed that YES, I can do this, I really can. Most people see me as a confident, outgoing and positive person. They don't see the self doubt, or the nagging gremlins which seek to tear me down at every little opportunity.
Without that run, none of those which followed would have been possible. Since that run I have knowingly or not built up that self confidence to the stage where I can happily go out for 20 mile + runs with absolutely no doubt that its within me to do it, and enjoy it. That run, which made me almost cry, gave me an ear to ear grin that made my face ache, that made me want to take out a full page ad declaring "I JUST RAN FOR 20 MINUTES!!" That run sowed the seed that actually, I really can do more than I thought.
Which one moment in your running career stands out to you for any reason at all?
I hope your running plans are going in the right direction (forward at any speed) and that running is giving you rewards along the way.
As always, if you're new here, or just browsing through the community posts, this is a great place to introduce yourself and let us know how you are doing. You’ll find plenty of support and knowledge from your fellow runners here.
I totally agree with that week 5 run 3 moment. That jump up to 20 mins seemed unreachable so to achieve it was something else! 50k run,amazing!!! Wow!
I haven't been that great with my running lately and feel really slow.But yesterday I did achieve getting round our local HM for the 6th year in a row and supported some new friends on their first time at the route. We weren't fast but we enjoyed it! Thick fog on part of the route! bright sunshine in other places ! This event I always want to participate in as I do it in memory of my mum who passed away the morning of the run 5years ago,so I always make sure to get out and enjoy it and she helps me along 💕
You all look happy! I'm not sure which writer said it (might have been Lisa Jackson) but it was something like 'unless you're likely to win, running an event should less about the time you complete it in, and more about the time you have whilst completing it' but I certainly would rather take longer and have more fun. You could also see it as getting your moneys worth! 👍🏻😁
I love the fact that you can tie it in to your mum too 💖
Yes we took a few photos on the way! It's nice doing local events as I knew most of the marshals and there were people out on the course cheering . And my dad was on one section with a water bottle swap for me as no water stations this year! The beach section was fun as they stopped playing their cricket match to clap us! Lovely! It's a pretty hilly route but just a really good one to do. Xxx
Ooh mine was my first graduation day.. I was on my last couple of minutes running... really struggling to carry on.. I rounded the bend on the feild to see a hill at the side..full of grazing cattle..
The sight just filled my heart with joy and I actually had tears in my eyes as it boosted me to graduation!!
I smiled for days afterwards ☺️
I can still see it and feel the elation now..
I'm ever so proud of completing my first 10Miles on Saturday and although I was totally buzzing, nothing compares to that feeling when I graduated 🙏
My confidence has soared and I have no doubt I will carry on and achive my HM sometime soon 🏃♀️
Rewarded every day by my running journey.. just the overwhelming feeling of well-being.. ability.. and gratitude 🙏
My final run of C25k wasn’t a special moment either. I knew that I was going to make it by then and I was already thinking “what next?” I hit a calf issue in week 6 and had to take time out to sort it. Getting back to week 6 and running it without breaking down was the “I am going to do this” run. It dispelled all of the doubts, like “is 66 a ridiculous age to try this?”
Since then, the numerous 10k and 10 mile runs and one HM run all gave me a buzz as did joining Park Run and finding that I could run quicker than I thought just through running with others. More important than all of that is the people I have met, actually and virtually along the way and the hundreds of incidents; weather foul and fair, wildlife, countryside etc etc. Those encounters are priceless.🙂
I loved completing Bridge to 10k. Massive thing for me to complete it as I stuttered quite a bit along the way.
Self-doubt wobble early on in one of my first races when I asked myself who I thought I was kidding. It was hilly, cold and tough. The question soon got answered when I checked out my fellow runners, many of whom were older women. They were ripping it up and having a great time. I restarted with renewed vigour and asked myself what else would I be doing on a cold Sunday morning. The ironing! 😱. Stuff that 😁. Racing is a blast I’ll be doing it for as long as possible 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
I was never a runner 🤷♀️ Now I am and I can’t stop doing it 🙂
Enjoy the sunshine folks 👍🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♀️🌝
I have used my iron precisely once in the past 2 years (for my new Xmas table cloth Xmas before last) and maybe only once in the 2 before that... 🤣🤣🤣 if it looks like it will need ironing I don't buy it!
We had a deal. He does my car maintenance (sort of) and I do his ironing He does most of the shopping too as I hate that as well He goes to work 8 days a week too. He’s supposed to be retired 😤. He got bored after a month 😁
For me, my joy is the very fact that I run at all, and it’s taken over my life leisure-wise. It used to be horses; I’ve owned several over the years and also worked on an equine hospital yard, but when I lost my last one I vowed not to get another. About a year later, at 54. I started C25K and was overjoyed to graduate without missing a beat, and went through the distances all the way to HM which I’ve run 5 times. I’m especially proud of my staying power. Lucky really as my “fastest” HM to date is 2hrs 49! My first was 3hrs 15! 🤣
Running is simply the best! ( 🎶 better than all the rest 🎶) 😀
Well they do say HM and upwards are "endurance" races... who shows more endurance? Those who finish first or last? 🤔👍🏻😁 I think the HM distance is a nice one, doesn't take up the whole day but you do feel you've worked for the rewards it brings.
It's great that you were able to channel your previous passion into a new one and underscores the fact that we need to change/ try new things when opportunity arises, and indeed that clouds ⛅ do bring silver linings 💫
When I first read about the 20 minute run before I even started C25K I thought it was a mistake! I couldn’t understand the big jump and didn’t think I could ever run for that long. But that wasn’t my proudest moment.
That came at the end when I’d finally managed to complete the graduation run six months after I started. I was plagued with an old ankle injury around week 3 and had to take time out and then run most of the programme on a treadmill. But when I finished that 30 minute run I went into the loo and looked at myself in the mirror and did that muscle thing that Popeye does and laughed out loud because I was absolutely over the moon and felt as if I could take on the world 💪
Life changing stuff this running….
My running is still ticking over but at the weekend I aim to get back to a regular routine again. I haven’t worn my new shoes since and the niggles seem fine, so I’ll try them again and see what happens.
Have a good week everyone and happy proud running x
I think for me it might be the second time I did the Brighton Marathon (2018). I had a problem with my left calf which had really impacted my training, and I didn't run at all for more than two whole weeks before the race. I didn't know if I would be able to run at all, but on the day, pumped up by the Chemical Brothers and Queen being blasted from speakers at the start, I ran through the start and got a high five from Paul Sinton-Hewitt who was the race starter. The weather was nice, sunny and cool-ish, and half the run seemed to go by almost without my noticing it, like I was in a trance! From about mile 18 onward I started to feel my calf and had to walk quite a lot, but I had a good plan to just stop for a minute at each water station and have some food and drink, and finished feeling pretty fresh! I crossed the line in just under 4 hours and 25 minutes, which wasn't bad at all considering, and I just felt really proud of myself! 😊😊😊
Some great stuff in this post Jo! Week 5 run 3 was a massive high for me too (graduation something of a let down 🤷♀️). Probably my biggest, proudest moment was completing my first HM. Finding my son at the finish line (his first HM too), sharing that moment, I'll never forget that feeling. It gives me goosebumps even now. But in truth that's just two memorable highs out of so many more - running is amazing and my only regret is not having thought to try it sooner!
Although the 20 minute run was awesome and we felt great for days, the one run that sticks in my mind is my first 10k, I’d said to Willow, I’m bored I’m going to the seafront and going to aim for the pier, is that ok? he said ok and carried on running round our usual track, when I reached the seafront I thought the pier looked tiny and I’d never get there! Imagine my disappointment when I got to the pier and it wasn’t even two and a half k. I thought I’d just keep going along the seafront, when I reached 4k I thought to myself, one more kilometer and turn round and that will be 10k so on I went, i thought even if I walked back it would still be 10k. I turned and didn’t have to walk back but it was slow, as I re entered the park my watched buzzed 10k I slowed to a walk with a big grin on my face, then realized poor Willow had been waiting over an hour for me to return, I did wonder if he’d gone home and I’d have to walk another 1.6k but no he was there beginning to wonder where I was
I love going somewhere, so although a jog with faster parts round the track are good or up over the hills of the downs are great, what I really like is running somewhere, sometimes I run round the outside of the village and know whichever way I go I will keep going until I get back home, and pass all sorts of memories like the schools my children went to and a shop i worked in years ago.
I’m the same! I think the single most thrilling day of my running life was the day of W5R3, and I’m still massively proud of it.
I have other milestones, like my first 10k, first HM, longest run (34km), and first medal, that have made me happy too. The first time I ran with my son, rather than him racing away ahead of me is a treasured memory. This last weekend I ran up Cardiac Hill right to the top of the campus, which used to be a tough walk in my student days thirty years ago, and that’s one that’ll keep me pumped for a while. But of all of these, the one that sustains me more than any other is still W5R3.
Every now and again I pop back to the C25k forum, and there’s always either someone nervous of it for me to encourage or someone who’s just done it for me to celebrate.
Great post Jo! I’m a bit odd in that I finished c25 on my own just as I found this forum, and Floss pointed me to the consolidation programmes and the 10k group. My proudest moment was probably the last real race we had in 2020 - the Chilly Half. I finished in 1:47 - a much faster time than I ever thought I could run that distance. The first mara and the 50k were big deals too for different reasons, but that one stands out for me I think, because it felt so easy and smooth. Like a new fitness base had been reached. And then covid came and messed with all our plans
My C25K graduation run still sticks in my mind. My 5k time is quicker now, but not by much. There’s also the 5k Speed Challenge that I completed about 6 weeks later: I’m not that quick now!
Another run that’s very important to me is the 0.2k or so that I managed a couple of months after my primary pump problem. There’s also returning to HM distance (which took me another six months or so).
It’s also a great feeling to have achieved a marathon; that feels like a significant milestone.
There’s also a great feeling to putting on a burst of speed sometimes or to entering a kind of trance where it feels more like floating along than running.
So, that’s the, err, one moment that stands out for me.
Not until I found C25k and weeks later HealthUnlocked support.
I used to go to the gym and green gym on a Friday.We used to finish with a short hill run to finish our one hour session.Each week the hill became harder more difficult and my head fell lower and lower.I kept telling myself, your too old, you are going to injure yourself, chill and don’t bother.None of it was the truth or the facts.
At 75 was the first time I read on HealthUnlocked about the toxic ten.I was still doing the early weeks of C25k before moving into the continuous runs which I loved.
I remember going back to my hill in Penrhos Coastal Park on a Friday afternoon and armed with the knowledge of the oxygen delay and just bolted up the hill having full confidence that it would just kick in.
It did and I was off.A bit like the feeling for any youngster when the stabilisers are taken off and you have found your balance.
Must say this running malarkey does not hand out any free lunches.You have to earn it.You put the time in and you richly deserve the reward you get.It is so worth it.
Hi Jo, I think about your challenges,honesty, vulnerability and although I will never be able to truly empathise, I will always cherish our C25k journey.What good fortune to have watched and followed your amazing journey.
Wishing you every happiness,peace and joy from the running Gods.
As many say on here,Keep on keeping on,Onwards and upwards and keep smiling.
The HealthUnlocked Forum/IannodaTruffe was using “keep smiling “ before The great Eluid Kipchoge.
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