Running is a bit like life, the more you work at it, the more you get out of it. If you let it go, you're just gonna be unfit and unhappy.
I like to think I've now grabbed it with both hands and held on.
As a kid I was very sporty, mainly because I was pretty rubbish at stuff like English & Maths, it wasn't that I'm not intelligent enough, more that as a youngster I was a bit of a 'disruptive influence' because I wasn't that interested in learning about Macbeth or cosines and tangents. I was pretty good at cross country, netball, hockey, etc.
That's me in the red and white at Leslies Field sports day 1981 ish (top left). In the blue and white next to Jane Wardle in the Jarrow vest (left), and hiding behind my junior school friends Susan Holliday & Kay Bargewell (above right), taken at Monkton in 1983/84.
I managed to win a few trophies when I was a kid, I of course still have them along with my swimming badges and cycling proficiency certificate ;)
I continued with the sports right up until I left school, when I dropped it all, and sat on my arse for 10 years. What a moron.
When you sit about doing nothing but eat, there's no way you can't balloon up, and was starting to reach the point where my ass was so big it was thinking about having orbiting satellites. There's no way that I was ever gonna be happy at a size 22+ and after a great deal of hard work I've managed to shift a good chunk of it.
I may not be down to a whippet-like size (and will never be), but compared with the 'old me' I'm positively svelte.
I've gotta thank everyone who helped me along the way, especially Andy, who was my inspiration to get started and keep going, and my club mates at Jarrow & Hebburn AC, without whom I'd prolly have shifted a stone or two, then been happy just bimbling about. They've really pushed me on to actually compete in stuff, and try to get faster and faster. Seriously - it can't be normal (except in the running community) that a woman in her forties still enjoys cross country, but wouldn't it be lovely if everyone did.
I'm going to have to sing the praises of parkrun too. It fits right in between jogging for fun, and taking part in 'proper' races. Not race for life or fun runs, I mean the ones where you go out and try to do your best time. That could be a 5k race, or the London Marathon. Parkrun is helping get people from just keeping fit, to thinking about improving their running, and joining clubs - this can only be a good thing.
Above: Parkruns - Durham, Gateshead, Sunderland, Gateshead again, and Sedgefield
That's not to say you can't do the daft stuff occasionally - like running parkrun or the Great North run in a ball gown and fairy wings.
It's still a push to work hard though, eat sensibly, and keep training,
and with all of that there are points where you get injured and can't
run at all, but the thought that keeps you going is that you can get
back out there in a week, or a month or four months time, and run like a
deer, light on you feet. There's also a point where you find your
distance: the race you're most comfortable with, and what you really
enjoy. I've had a go at everything from 100m to marathon distance, and I
can comfortably say I'm not a marathon runner.
I've had a total disaster each time I've tried to run 26.2 miles, so I'll be sticking with the short stuff thankyouverymuch ;)
It's 5k and less for me really, I'm never going to set the world on fire, but in my own little world I'm not doing too badly. As long as I can say I've given it my best shot, I'll be happy.
That's pretty much the story so far, fit to fat to fit again. There's no-one but me to blame for me getting massive, but at the same time, it's been all my own hard work to get it back.
With great thanks to the North East running community - you're all stars!
