Reader, I did it! On Sunday 9th June 2019, accompanied by my wonderful sister Teresa (a multiple marathon runner and inspirational support) I ran the Sutton Beast, the local 10k race, in one hour and 19 minutes. And four days later I ran the Ely Runners 10k handicap in one hour and 16 minutes, two minutes inside my handicap time.

None of these numbers are particularly notable in terms of running times; almost everyone I know in Ely Runners can knock spots off them, but that isn’t important. What is important is that I managed to double the distance I could run and then carve large (largish) chunks out of the time that it took to do so. And that improvement in both time and distance was partly down to the efforts I put in with training and effort.

But, and this is a HUGE but, it’s mainly down to the wonderful outfit that is Ely Runners and the inspirational community of Littleport parkrun.

This blog was intended to be an update on how I’d progressed as a runner through 2019, but as I reflected on what to write my thoughts turned increasingly to the theme of community. The community of my running club, and the community of parkrun.

Ely Runners

As mentioned in the earlier episode of this blog, I joined Ely Runners in September 2019 after completing the Beginners’ Course. The weekly Tuesday evening intervals training sessions gradually helped increase my speed, though from the sheer running perspective I found them difficult. But what began to help most were two things to do with the club: firstly the rest of the runners, who would lap me regularly, always had a word of encouragement as they zipped past; and secondly people would come up to me and chat both before we began and after we finished. And I found myself beginning to get to know people who could run 10k, half marathons, marathons and more. It was a revelation!

Through the winter the people I got to know at the club helped me, occasionally advised me and always provided an inspiration. There are so many people that I owe thanks to that I’m scared to start listing them in case this turns into a roll call. But I really do have to give special mention to John and Kyle, who lead the training sessions and always give strong and helpful advice, to Hannah who got me through the Beginners’ course and started me on the way to 10k, and to Allistair and Michelle who helped me time and again through the longer runs this summer.

As we got into spring I decided to take part in the Thursday evening training runs. These were longer, steadier and a continuing challenge as they were leading me into distances I’d never run before. But with the support of Ely Runners friends it worked. And as I said at the beginning, I got to 10k which was my ambition at the beginning of the year. Since then I’ve slowly been upping my distance and increasing my speed and with the help of my coach Lauren I’m well into a training plan to complete the Cambridge Half marathon at the beginning of March.

Lauren (who blogs as Girl Running Late – well worth following by the way) is an example of how great is Ely Runners club. ER has a Facebook group for club members and somewhere in November, realising that I needed to do something drastic about the forthcoming half, I tentatively asked there if any of the club coaches fancied a challenge. Lauren responded that if there was commitment then she would be happy to take it up. And a few discussions and one training plan later I’m well on the way. Lauren is showing herself to be inspirational (she is sub 20 for 5k), encouraging and wise. She’s also a good friend.

Now, there are many running clubs who focus solely, if not mainly, on running excellence. These are the sorts of places that have minimum standards to join – typically sub 30 minutes for 5k or similar. A club like that wouldn’t even consider someone who is aiming at best for a 2:30 time at half marathon. But Ely Runners does. In fact, as mentioned above, they go out of their way to welcome and encourage slower runners and rejoice to see every small improvement we make. Lauren’s voluntary efforts to guide me to that half marathon is the exemplar of that, and I am entirely in their debt.

Littleport parkrun

For those who don’t know about parkrun, let me quote the opening lines of a great article on the subject from 2018:

Every Saturday morning at 9am sharp a little bit of anarchy breaks out across the country. This being Britain, it happens, naturally enough, in our parks.

At its most simple, parkrun is a timed 5k run/walk that happens every week. It is entirely volunteer driven, costs nothing to take part and requires no specific levels of fitness. And it is, above all, a community exercise.

My first parkrun, as I talked of in the earlier blog, was to mark my graduation from the ER Beginners’ Course . It was fun and exciting, and I’d never taken part in anything like it before. And it became part of my weekend. Initially I just ran it every week, but then began to volunteer as well, and I found myself in a fun and very supportive community. The speedy runners encourage those of us who are not so quick, and no matter how slow people go – trotting, walk/run, or just a walk – there are marshals and other runners giving encouragement. Latterly I have become more involved with the core team who keep the show on the road every week and have been hugely impressed with the selfless work that is put in.

The Littleport parkrun community is supportive of everyone who takes part, and everyone who takes part joins that community. I know that sounds all rather airy fairy, but when I see one of our speediest runners out on the course setting it up for others to benefit from it then it makes sense.

Running in my experience is a community exercise even though it’s an individual undertaking. And I am hugely thankful to both the communities that in one way or another have taken me in.

PS The article that I quoted from at the beginning can be found here.

I’ve never been one for running. In fact I spent a lot of my youth poking fun at those of my acquaintance who did run, and never felt the least interest in the idea of it.

Then, some time in the autumn of 2017 I found myself listening to a radio show that included Sandi Toksvik talking about running. She said that she’d been getting concerned by her weight and complete lack of fitness as she got older and had decided therefore to do the Couch to 5k programme. At the beginning she couldn’t run 100 yards, but had persisted with it and nowadays could do a 5k at the drop of a hat. She said she felt a great deal better and had lost a lot of weight.

Now, I’d been thinking about fitness and age for a while. There had been a few trips to the gym over the years but nothing had ever stuck. Other than Morris Dancing (which demands a fair degree of effort) I wasn’t doing any exercise and was getting concerned about this. So when I heard Sandi on the radio that day I was struck by the thought that if she could do it, then why couldn’t I? The trouble was that I’ve never been particularly good at sticking to something when it got difficult, and realised that even the C25K was going to be a struggle, so a major incentive was required. Accordingly I told my daughters that this was my plan and for Christmas I needed running gear – for years I hadn’t even had a pair of trainers! They responded with enthusiasm, including taking me to Cambridge to get my gait checked and to select a decent pair of running shoes, and by Christmas Day I had running tops, leggings and gloves. And on January 3^rd 2018, with Michael Johnson selected as the coach, I started the Couch to 5K app and set off on week 1, run 1. I never expected it to be easy, and by golly it wasn’t! That first day was 8 x 1 minute runs, interspersed with 90 seconds of walking, by the time I was on the 6th run each of those minutes seemed half an hour! But I did it, and followed the course all the way through. At times I really found it tough, (week 5 had to be repeated because the first 20 minute run completely floored me) but finally got there at the beginning of May. The thought of the girls having bought me all this gear was a very strong incentive in the tough runs and I’m not sure that I’d have got through it on willpower alone.

So by the beginning of May I was a C25K graduate, but wasn’t actually running anything like 5k. According to my Strava app at most I was managing to run just over 2 miles, around 3.5k. I occasionally ran with my sister and my daughter and the running distance very slowly crept upwards and at the end of May managed my first 5k, in the princely time of 44 minutes.

Shortly after this I was contacted by a chap called Justin from Ely Runners who wanted to publicise a beginner’s running course that club was organising. We talked a bit and before I knew it I was signed up. And that course was a revelation!

Up to this point I’d done almost all my running on my own, with, as mentioned, the occasional jaunt with my sister or daughter, but now I found myself running with 30 people or more. Most were faster than me but it quickly became apparent that that didn’t matter. However slowly I went there was always at least one coach or club runner keeping me company; their attitude was that I was a runner and they were helping me improve. And improve I did! The culmination of the course was a timed 5k that I completed in just over 40 minutes – 4 minutes faster than I’d ever done before. And so, on 25^th August with many other graduates from the course I ran the Littleport parkrun and did so in less than 40 minutes. I was unbelievably chuffed! Since then I’ve run a further 11 parkruns and volunteered three times as well and lowered my PB to a bit over 38 minutes. I’ve also joined Ely Runners and go out training with them most weeks. It’s somewhat daunting to be training alongside people who regularly do marathons but a completely unexpected camaraderie has been uplifting. The greyhounds might lap me in training but they frequently give me a cheery word as they do so. I’ve made friends amongst people I never expected to meet and though it’s always going to be hard and I’m never going to worry Mo Farah I find that I enjoy being a runner.

Today is 3^rd January 2019, exactly one year since I started the C25K, and tonight I begin my training to get to 10K. Wish me luck!