Keeping Track

I've been running since August 2005, when I took it up as a cheap form of exercise to help me lose some extra weight.

The first run I tried was three and a half miles, and it took me over 40 minutes, and I had to stop several times on the way round.

But I kept going, and earlier this year I ended up getting quite serious about it; early May saw me (and a sometimes unwilling Richard) regularly running six miles in the evening, in around an hour, as preparation for my holiday in Yosemite National Park and my hike up Half Dome (with its scary cables). I felt I needed to be as fit as possible to do it; the thought of not being able to climb Half Dome because I was too unfit was enough to spur me on to keep running.

It worked too. I was able to trundle round Yosemite perfectly happily, sometimes covering sixteen miles in a day, without any problems. It was fantastic and felt like a real achievement for me. But with the holiday over, I found it difficult to spur myself on to run. There was no purpose - the simple 'keeping fit' reason wasn't enough. I needed another challenge, and the idea of running a marathon fitted the bill perfectly. It would involve training, it would be one heck of a challenge, and there was a set date to aim for (April 2007).

Like I tend to do, I threw myself into finding out as much as I could. I found the Runner's World website, and picked up some pretty useful information - including training plans. I filled in my London Marathon application form, and I discovered that there were other races I might want to do when the inevitable London rejection letter comes through.

And so here I am, August 2006, planning for marathons and half marathons, eating muesli, dried fruit and weetabix rather than toast and chocolate, and wriing this blog to try and keep some sort of track of where I'm going - and where I've come from.