Run Don't Walk

People laugh at me when I say I've kept fit for years without running. They have a little giggle when I say I'll walk anywhere, for as far and as long as you like, but I can't run. As though they're thinking - huh! Anyone can walk!

But what I mean is - I can seriously walk. I've hiked 100 kilometres through the centre of Tasmania. I've climbed mountains, scrambled rocks to reach the top, pushed myself more than I ever thought possible. I've walked in the cold, the heat and the hills around where I live every single day. Hell, I even walked from the peak of Mt Buller to the peak of Mt Sterling (in the Victorian High Country) when I was pregnant. And then slept on a cold concrete floor and woke up the next morning ready to walk back again.

So when I say I can walk, I mean it. I can walk.

But run? God, no. I find it hard, boring, and I hate being all sweaty and puffed and red in the face. Yuck.

But you know what? I'd secretly love to be able to run. And let's be honest - I need to be fitter again. I've been a bit slack the last two years.

So, when my friend Naomi at Under the Yardarm started a blogging group for the Mother's Day Classic next year, and then began blogging about her own training - as do lots of other bloggers whose updates I enjoy reading - I thought this would be a good chance to get myself into gear.

What better way to get running than with all that support out there? Not to mention blogging about it to make myself extra accountable.

So last week, off I went. Armed with this:

My new iPhone with the C25k app - a gradual program, at the end of which I should be able to run 5km (right now, that thought just makes me laugh. 60 seconds at a time was enough!)

Although the app is entitled 'Couch to 5km' I went to our local reserve - which is flat. I am not doing this program up and down hills! It also has gravel paths, which are easier on my poor, weak old knees. So, I drove to said reserve, got sorted, started the app, and began walking towards the lake. Until I realised it was closed to visitors today, due to some sort of work happening in there.

Not happy. But, being all geared up to go (and having told everyone on Twitter that I was about to do it!), I decided to just make do.

So I was ready to go...

As was Abbey...

She was lying down pretending to be a baby sleeping... what a slacker

And, instead of being able to jog/walk in the reserve, I used the path next to the road in. Which sounds awful, but it's not that bad:

And I was kept amused not just by the music on my iPhone, but my little girl sitting there making running motions with her hands, yelling "Faster Mum!" and singing Happy Birthday to herself (as you do).

I felt so good for having done this. I'm really looking forward to getting better and better with my running.


Megan