What the first week has taught us
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| Ready to tackle Millennium Bridge on a sunny day |
Total distance covered: 134.61 km, or the distance from London to Peterborough
Louise (36.8 km)
This week has been great. I have had so much fun and have felt motivated on every run. It has been a good learning curve so far. I always thought I preferred consistency and knowledge of where I was going and that I could never be one of those carefree people who just runs in new places with no idea of what to expect. However for the first three runs of this challenge I went out blind and just explored! I’m really proud of myself and it's done wonders for my confidence so far.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the group runs and the plans we are making whilst running really adds to the excitement and motivation. I know there will be low points and as it gets further in to winter, the enthusiasm to go out in the cold is likely to drop hugely, so right now I am enjoying the motivation and basking in the endorphins!
This week has been great. I have had so much fun and have felt motivated on every run. It has been a good learning curve so far. I always thought I preferred consistency and knowledge of where I was going and that I could never be one of those carefree people who just runs in new places with no idea of what to expect. However for the first three runs of this challenge I went out blind and just explored! I’m really proud of myself and it's done wonders for my confidence so far.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the group runs and the plans we are making whilst running really adds to the excitement and motivation. I know there will be low points and as it gets further in to winter, the enthusiasm to go out in the cold is likely to drop hugely, so right now I am enjoying the motivation and basking in the endorphins!
Zoe (36.21 km)
One week into our running challenge and I am finding it… enjoyable (although I never thought I would be using that word when describing seven days of running on the trot).
Whilst seven days of consecutive running is far from a World Record it’s my personal best! When I’ve previously decided to pick up my sports gear and go for a run it has tended to be on a weekday, due to the convenience of already being out of the house, or when I’ve needed to vent some form of work related frustration. This week I’ve not always felt the NEED to go out for a 5k - especially on my relaxing weekend at home - but I’ve done it anyway because of this challenge.
I’m not going to lie, it was tough to get up from a lazy morning in bed and go for a run. Even harder to go for a run after a few cheeky drinks with the girls! But as they say, it’s starting which is the hard part. The usual post run happiness followed and made it worthwhile. If I can keep that mentality and make the very small effort to simply change into my gear and head out the door, despite a social gathering or the ‘lazy weekend’ attitude, I should be fine. Fingers crossed now we’ve started and completed our first week of running the rest should come easy. Wishful thinking, I’m sure!
We are now a week in and I’m feeling good about the challenge. I have had a pretty good week of running and have really noticed how doing this every day, even for just a mile, has impacted my overall activity levels for the week. An avid Fitbit user, I’ve easily hit my daily step goal.
It’s been good to mix up short runs with longer ones, group runs with solo runs. I think mixing it up will be key to keeping things interesting as we get further along the challenge and we have some weekend group runs and organised events planned to help us also.
The best thing this week has been the support. Not just from my husband, but from colleagues, my trainer at the gym, and of course the other girls doing the challenge.
Day 3 was a pretty bad one for me. I'd had a little too much fun the night before at a Halloween party and even by 4pm the next day was still not feeling well. It's unlike me, I am normally pretty good with dealing with post-party headaches. I couldn’t cave so early on, especially given as all the girls had messaged me their efforts earlier that day, I felt I was letting the side down. After googling ‘should I run with a hangover?’ to check whether it’s even healthy (results here which I clearly ignored), I went out for the minimum of a mile and survived. I certainly learnt a lot about what my body is capable of that day.
The day we commenced our challenge, I was on my way back from two very relaxing, gluttonous weeks in Cornwall. The drive took over 8 hours and as it grew darker my lethargy grew more persuasive. I just did not want to go for a run! The lazy voices in my head told me it was too late and too dark. But at only 6pm I knew there was no excuse, so I dashed in from the car, stripped off and changed in the living room so I didn’t see my cosy bedroom and dashed back out, determined to only do 1 mile. I managed 2.7 km and didn’t hate it. The next day I ate a huge lunch then went out again for a run which was less enjoyable. From there I have just been jogging slow 2.7 - 3.5 km runs. I need to work up to long distances so I don’t start dreading each run, that would be my usual recipe for failure. Next week I hope to run at least 4km each day and build up from there. I don’t love running anymore, but so far I have really enjoyed this challenge and how it makes me feel. I hope over the next few weeks I will see improvement and find it more enjoyable.
Things keeping us motivated this week:
- Run Through UK Chat group on Facebook
- 10 Things to keep you motivated when it’s cold outside
- The fundraising we have received so far
To donate to FORWARD, please visit our Justgiving page here.
Keep track of our progress across social media with #100daysofrunningforward
Keep track of our progress across social media with #100daysofrunningforward
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