2010 Progress Entrant - Linda Claxson

Contents:- -Intro- Report -1- -2- -3- -4- -5- -6- -7- -8- -9- -10- -11- -12- -Look Back 1- -13- -14- -15- -16- -17- -Final-

Report (Final) - 16/05/10

Wow, 17 weeks of training and blogging for the Castle of Mey 10k seems to have flown by. To think that just 17 weeks ago I couldn't run for 1 minute without severe breathing difficulties and now I have my first 10k run under my belt. Being a featured runner and the support that has gone alongside that made all the difference, kept me focused and determined and made this an amazing experience.

On the day of the run we couldn't have asked for clearer or bluer skies, the atmosphere was amazing and the organisation was second to none. I was gutted to hear that Sharon couldn't run. She's put in as much training as the rest of us and I know she was looking forward to completing it, hopefully I'll see her there next year though.

Despite my pep talk to myself about not starting too fast, I started too fast. I have no experience of running with others and I just couldn't gauge my pace at all. I paid for this error immediately on the tracks and up those long, long, long first hills. They sapped all my energy and I admit I struggled.

It was great to get a wave from Ewan as he ran down the first hill (I was only just going up lol), he looked as though he was enjoying it and he did it in a fantastic time. Well done to Ewan.

I spent most of the run hating every foot fall, questioning my sanity for agreeing to do such a thing and consoling myself with the fact that I was hanging up my running shoes for good at the end of this run. All this negative thought (bought on by my own stupidity at the start) just escalated when I hit the 6 mark. At first I was chuffed to see the 6 mark as I realised that if I pushed I could make it back in under an hour, so I notched the pace up a gear. Then the Stewards sent me in the opposite direction to the Castle and it slowly dawned on my confused, sun boiled brain that the 6 mark was actually km's and not miles. I still had 4k left to do. Gutted!

However, I have come to the conclusion that running is not so different from giving birth. At the time I wanted to claw out the eyes of the nearest person and basically give up rather than go a step further. But then you cross the finish line and you see all the support and cheering for you and all those negative thoughts are suddenly replaced with a massive sense of achievement as you wear your medal with pride and find yourself actually planning and looking forward to your next run. So, I'm not giving up running, I do enjoy it and I've registered for the Brora 10k and the Loch Ness 10k where I aim to start properly, maintain my pace and beat my Mey time - hopefully!

My goals at the start of this training programme were to basically get fit and to hopefully lose some weight. While the weight loss has been minimal, I'm more than pleased with the improvement in my fitness levels. The experience has also shown me that I am not limited by any medical condition but quite the opposite, as long as I am sensible, don't push myself beyond my physical abilities and listen to the bits that hurt then I am capable of achieving whatever I want (just maybe not in the time I want. lol)

I also wanted to do something just for myself. After 18 years of being a stay at home mum I found myself redundant and not needed in quite the same way. I didn't really believe that I had the willpower or determination to run through rain, snow or gales and in spite of painful achy joints, but this small achievement has shown me that I can. I have suffered with the odd minor injury over the weeks but nothing that has really stopped me running for any length of time, it's mainly been aches and fatigue that I've had to cope with so I was quite pleased that any stiffness after the run only lasted a few days.

This whole experience has been amazing but it wouldn't have been possible without the support given to the featured runners, it's an experience I'll treasure forever (my first run) and would definitely recommend it to anyone considering next years Mey 10k. Sophie and Donna have been great over the weeks and Jayne has just been a mine of information and managed to keep me going at times when I thought the whole event was just beyond my capabilities. I missed Iola on the day unfortunately but I see she also managed a fabulous time.

So thanks to you all, it's been a blast!