How My Running Began...

So I completed my first 10km race. I would never have thought, even a couple of months ago, that I would ever decide to run in a 10km, let alone finish it, but I guess I did. It all started as you know, with a high cholesterol phone call from the doctor. I started out on the exercise bike and walking regularly but I knew I needed something else to get my heart rate up. Let's face it, exercise bikes are all very well, but it is very boring sitting watching the numbers fly by. The next logical thing to do would be to take my walking to the next step and try running.

On May 28th 2011 I decided to go for my first run, (http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/hSe_c350KRg), and it almost bloody killed me. It was a round trip of just over two miles, straight up Welch Rd, to Oakley Park and then back down. In my defence, running at the side of this road is very nasty, there is a helluva camber, the surface sucks and the cars fly by. I manage a whopping two minutes of solid running before I had to take my first break. If you look at the workout, you can see that this is pretty much the pattern I stick with until a few minutes before returning, when I am just walking. I arrived back at the house, demoralised, knowing that I was a wreck.

I decide the following Saturday that I'm going to try again, this time at Hiram Sims Park. There is a nice little route around the pond there and it measures out at 0.54 miles per circuit. I really wanted to see how long I could run for without stopping, hoping for one mile but not expecting a whole lot. This time I managed a whole five minutes without stopping, it was progress and progress was all I was looking for. It was at this point that I decided that running, while holding a phone and water is incredibly annoying so I had to come up with a solution. You can see the run here - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/p6TVnh1znhI.

The following Friday night I rolled my ankle which buggered me up, I didn't really rest it for long enough and it still bothers me a little. It was around this time that we found out that my friend Stu was coming back for a visit, we hung out and talked about his progress and what I wanted to do. Since that night Stu has been very supportive and helpful, passing on advice and general encouragement. On August 1st he floated the idea of me doing a 5km or 10km, I think I had signed up for the Farmington Hills Run For The Hills race, within a day or so, the rest is history.