Intro

Middle aged Mum of two who hated running that much, I was even giving a 'running outside' detention at school as they knew that was greater punishment than writing lines in the warmth! Happily walked everywhere ( sometimes through the joy of fresh air, exercise and scenery and wonderful dogs for company and often out of necessity... when you don't drive and bus fares go up, you walk!) But run? Nope. So what changed? A friend on Facebook wanted company to do a colour run for North East Autism in 2014. I laughed and politely declined. But when you have two children with autism yourself , well I felt bad. So I agreed to do it, but walk it. However, I do like a challenge and I learned of C25k ( couch to 5k... a training plan to help beginner runners become confident and capable of running a 5k) and decided to give it a go. Before starting this I tried to run.... I ran at my full pelt with two giddy dogs around a stretch of the local park, utterly convinced I must have run at least a couple of miles.... at LEAST... maybe even more. I came home and went on ' Map my Run' to discover I had run the impressive distance of erm... a little short of two miles... just under half a mile! My chest was burning , my lungs hurt and I couldn't walk properly for days and was convinced this running malarky wasn't for me, just as I'd believed for years. So, I was very grateful for a plan by way of c25k that took me by the hand and slowly built my fitness and my self belief and suddenly something magical happened and I fell in love with running. Who'da thunk it? If only Ms Bottomley could see me now ( my old PE teacher.) But, I got carried away and did too much ( pushed myself harder than c25k asked for and more often too) and ended up with a nasty groin injury that kept me out of running for 4 months , even with regular physio visits. But I did the autism charity run, but still in a fair bit of pain, so walked alot of it but I did it and knew it wouldn't be my last race.

 It was whilst out of running with the injury for four months that the physio,( a very healthy, fit, toned man of under 30) thought he was helping me and in my best interests pointed out that with my medical history ( meningitis twice and my back just doesn't move quite as it did either through the meningitis itself or the lumbar punctures, repeated broken toes, arthritis in big toe, hypermobility, ridiculously low blood pressure) that maybe running wasn't for me and suggested yoga. And swimming. He pointed out my weak core and weak leg muscles and am sure was looking at this slightly overweight woman rapidly nearing forty and thinking, ' early mid life crisis.' And I thanked him and the game was on. If running wasn't meant to be for me... well, I'd accept it, but not before giving it my best shot! So I swam and I yoga'd and I Jillian Michael'd ( 30 day shred) and walked more and got a Fitbit and learned about planks and burpees ( Thank goodness didn't know about those little chestnuts of torture or think they would have been the plan for my next detention!) And I did Parkrun and Edinburgh Half Marathon and Great North Run and in July of this year, I did my first ultra... Race to The Stones... 100km, over 2 days. Despite breaking my foot in Aviemore weeks before. I did return to the physio ( tweaked my knee on the ultra- hardly surprising seeing as I missed 8 weeks of training with my broken foot) and must admit, I felt a bit smug .... 25 lbs lighter, core built up and just completed my first ultra. The cause of my knee? Tight hamstrings... don't think he could find any hamstrings before!

 So why did I fall in love with running? I don't know exactly why but I can hazard a few guesses. I love a challenge. I like time on my own just to mull over my thoughts and with two ( frankly, outstandingly amazing kids who happen to have autism ) who I home educate with no family other than hubby who works long hours and no respite and for who, sometimes life is really challenging for them. Well, me time is hard to come by and I have found running has reduced my anxiety, my bouts of depression and increased my confidence. I also love the fact that I inspire my children and my children are proud of me. Every race I do, although they can't attend ( too noisy and busy ) it is thinking of them that gets me through the tough times. I have been told I inspire others too- which means a heck of alot to me. I am not an athlete, I will never be a 'good' runner, but I have proved that even middle aged Mums of two with little free time and a few health issues can be a better runner.

Another inspiration for my runs is animals. Not just the cuddly ones, the 'pet' ones and the popular ones and not just those in this country. I am a passionate vegan who fuels runs with healthy vegan food and big dose of compassion and have raised money for various animal charities since I started running and the fact that my running helps beasties in need and helps promote veganism, that is another reason I love running. Anyway, that's a bit of my running history. I have a few races coming up and another Ultra in March 2017. This blog may be sparse in content due to limited time to keep up with it, but will try to add updates and maybe a few recipes in for good measure whenever I can.