(With many Thanks to Jane Lowthe for this fantastic report!)
Last November I started thinking about C25K, for the last few years my friend Deirdre and I participated in a number of charity Fun Runs, always making sure walkers were welcome so we could jog/ walk. Friends were consulted and two agreed to sign up, early January arrived I signed up, alas the friends had a change of heart & I was on my own!!
Coming in the gate one night, I suspect I was a forlorn looking creature, one of the ever encouraging C25K coaches met me, told me I was doing great and to keep at it …. Soon afterwards I settled in, I got to know people, some by name, some by face, Lisa a fellow C25K became my “running buddy “ ,despite the fact that Lisa was younger and much faster, we teamed up and traveled the track together each night. We reached the 2.5K goal, then the 5K goal with the constant encouragement & support of all the coaches. The Dunboyne 4 mile now loomed, I joined in the practice runs but had a mega reluctance to do it, then Ana & Siobhan took on the role of pacers and I gave in and signed up and succeeded in finishing and surviving the 4 mile !!!!
My best friend Deirdre had by now joined Fit For Life and the following week we both signed up for Jog For a Dog 5K (in aid of My Canine Companion, Autism service Dogs). The weather and the atmosphere were fantastic, the race started and finished in the beautiful grounds of Castletown House, however we no longer had the C25K coaches shouting encouragement or our pacers to keep our spirits up, we had each other and we kept going. The last 500m were the hardest, it seemed endless, we could see the white in the distance and wondered would we ever get there. We finished and the time was 3mins better than the C25K a month earlier, for both of us to be able to keep going without stopping to walk & do it in 33.46 was a great personal achievement. If someone had asked me to just jog one lap of the track in January, I would have stared at them in sheer horror, it’s now April and I have joined Dunboyne AC and can honestly say I am really enjoying it, I’m no longer the forlorn looking creature coming through the gate !!
