Running as a complete beginner
I never saw myself as a runner, at all. As a chubby kid, the only opportunity for exercise was P.E. So shout out to the UK education system. At university, I was really involved in societies and trying to pass and during my second year, things started spiralling out of control. Running was a way of getting away from this.
So I made the decision to run the Southampton 10km. Doing something that felt completely impossible to me and went in head first.
Starting out
Not going to lie, the first few runs were depressing. I was out of breath within a few seconds and I was walking a majority of it. I started with beginners training using the “RunKeeper” app and it was really helpful. It came with a schedule and alerted you when you finished an interval. Interval training steadily helped me to run longer distances – “1min run, 2min walk” for about 5kms. I was constantly pushing myself past the 1min whenever I could.
In my opinion, an important part about running is finding a good route. Like everyone, I found a good route along the Itchen river. It was beautiful seeing the sunset and sunrise and that’s what motivated to get out of my bed and take Instagram photos.
When I was training, I didn’t feel different. It was a little demotivating not seeing any improvements and the results sort of plateau. I struggled a lot, especially when I kept running out of breath. What helped me keep going was my goals, mini target and I decided to run the Southampton 10km.
Training was consistent, with a plan I downloaded online and it was nice knowing that little by little I was making Even getting to the point of running 6km within an hour.
Southampton 10km Race Day
When it came down to race day, I actually got there a 4 hours earlier and the park wasn’t even open yet. Talk about being eager.
I actually signed up and plan to do it alone but to my surprised a few of my friends were running too. So I happily tagged along with the group when signing up and dropping our stuff off.
The Run
The run actually went quite well, I manged to run continuously for 45mins which I had never actually done before. Its true what they say about the race’s momentum keeps you going.
Unfortunately, after that, I was hit the Itchen bridge. OMG that bridge was terrible. The bridge itself was arc-ed and that meant we had to run both up to the peak and then down, and then again coming back. It wasn’t fun in the slightest.
After that, there wasn’t much left to the race and I managed to finish it in about 1 hour and 1 min. I am quite happy with myself with that time. All that training paid off and I’d actually achieved something starting from the bottom.
I actually enrolled into running a half marathon the following year which didn‘t go as well… But more on that later I guess 😅
