With new shoes purchased, I was ready to take on new challenges. Once a week I met up with Carl for a run. Weeks soon turned to months and I could now run a little further.

Parkrun

It wasn’t long before it was time to set a goal. Mine was the complete a parkrun.

My first parkrun.

For those of you unaware, Parkrun is the name given to a collection of five-kilometre running events that take place every Saturday morning in fourteen countries across five continents. Each Parkrun territory has its own sponsors. Events are run by volunteers, and participation is free of charge. A great initiative founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt in 2004.

Having registered my details online, I headed down to Frimley Lodge one Saturday morning in April. Carl had very kindly agreed to be my chaperone for the race.  He nurtured, encouraged and coaxed me through the race. Five km doesn’t sound like much until you race it for the first time, so crossing the finishing line felt like a massive achievement. I recall the sensation I was about to die, asking myself if I had lost my marbles.

Luckily one tends to forget quickly. I kept running through the summer and was able to gradually increase my distance. By November it was time for a new challenge, a five-mile cross country race.

Cross country race

Getting close to finish line in cross country race.

On a miserable cold, wet and horrible Sunday morning, I headed down to Hawley lake, not far from home, where my local running club had organised a race. With the windscreen wipers on my car trying to clear the drizzle of rain from the screen, I glanced at my newly acquired pair of trail shoes and thought they wouldn’t stay this pristine for long.

Like a fairy elephant, I tried to tip toe between the puddles in the hope to stay dry. This proved fruitless and I soon realised I should have brought the swimming googles. It was that wet. Eventually I had no other option than to head straight on, in a foot-deep swamp of muddy water. The chill would have woken the dead and it reminded me of my days doing my compulsory National Service. I didn’t enjoy it!

The discomfort soon disappeared, or was it the loss of all senses from the thermal shock, I can’t remember which. Once I got close to finish line, having friends and public cheering me on, there was an elation difficult to describe. It felt good and I wanted more of that.

From this point, Carl gradually increased the distance during our runs and I increased the intensity over the winter.

A year had soon past since my first parkrun and I started to feel the benefits of the increased exercise in that my stamina had improved and my trousers started to come loose.  Result!

Frimley 10K

It was time to find a longer distance race as a new challenge. Frimley 10K in aid of cancer research was coming up and Carl told me to enter, which I duly did.

Frimley 10K in aid of cancer research

Again, Carl very kindly supported me and made sure I got through to the finish line. A tad over the hour mark, but I was happy I made it.

I knew I had come a long way since my first day of exercise with Carl. It was at this point I started to ponder on how far I could take this project. Being one for setting big goals I put the feelers out on the idea of running a marathon. Since I didn’t get laughter in my face I knew it was achievable. From here on, I decided in my mind to enter the Stockholm marathon in a year’s time. Being Swedish and all that…

Please consider donating to my chosen charity, The Alzheimer’s Society. This is a worthwhile cause who do a lot of research around this terrible illness. Click on the link and go to my JustGiving page.