Pounding the pavements: Running blog week four

ON last night’s run I conquered the two minute milestone – a mental and physical hurdle I’ve been dreading since I started running.

Four weeks ago I could only just jog for 30 seconds. Now I’ve quadrupled that, and it feels great.

My ‘homework’ runs were a write-off last week as I was suffering the effects of a minor car crash – nothing serious, just a bump resulting in bit of an ache across my shoulders.

But after a week of no practice I was worried I’d struggle upping my run time to two minutes.

I joined the Gateford Girls on a dark, wet Wednesday night - Halloween in fact – for our weekly Run For It session with our trainer Roger.

It felt bitterly cold as we waited to warm up but once we got moving we hardly noticed the weather.

After just a few minutes of movement the aches and pains dropped from my shoulders and I felt energised.

And it’s amazing what a bit of group support can do for your spirits. Chatting with the other runners took my mind off the eight running spurts that lay ahead.

The devilishly dressed Trick-or-Treaters were another welcome distraction as we pounded the estate. We joked and jeered with them on our way past. They must have wondered what we’d come as!

It made me realise two things. One, that I’m no longer bothered about people seeing me running in public. I’m a runner and I’m proud.

And two, that I can talk and jog at the same time without panting and wheezing.

In fact, some of us got talking about a goal we could aim for after our eight-week course has finished.

It involves donning a red suit and a white beard – the Bassetlaw Santa Dash in aid of cancer charity Aurora.

Hopefully by 1st December we’ll be able to run the 3km route around The Canch in Worksop with relative ease.

But that’s four weeks away. And before then we’ve somehow got to increase our running capacity from two minutes to half an hour.

That’s a scary thought. But the way Roger puts it sounds much better. He explained how we were already running for 16 minutes each session, but with mini walking breaks in between each burst.

All we need to work on now is reducing the walking bits. Simples.

So here goes for another week. Another week closer to my goal of 30 minutes. And a more successful week than the last.

- Run For It is a running club which promises to build your fitness in eight weeks so you can run for 30 minutes. Find out more at www.runningcourses.co.uk

Classes take place in Worksop, Harworth, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham. They are open to men and women of all ages and abilities.