The Grace And Ali Show!

Hello blog lovers.

Ali and Grace!

This morning was the 4  week of the beginners.  It is the first week that we were running for longer than we were walking!  Some were apprehensive, some were looking forward to it.  It's a big milestone for some.  From this week onwards we will be doing more running than walking!

ZippySherry was leading today, which meant that I could mingle among the runners, chat with them, see how they are all doing and try to keep them motivated and determined!  Just blimmin love it!  So we had our two lap warm up walk around the rec, get that heart rate started up.  But then Sherry asked me to do the drills! She will be doing 'dog poo' clean up duty!  I mean how blimmin lovely is that.  She had seen what some irresponsible dog owners had left behind and decided to clear it up so that our beginners don't step in it when they get running!  I tell you, our ZippySherry goes above and beyond the duties of a run leader!  We are very proud of her!

After the drills and the clean up, ZippySherry took back the reigns and we started the running.  Te four minutes seem to fly by, well mainly because I had forgotten to start my Garmin until we were half way through the first lap!

 But that's fine, it's just as well I wasn't the one to keep an eye on the time!  But I did get to chat with the runners, find out how they are going!  It's so uplifting hearing them tell of how they are amazed that they can keep going.  It certainly uplifting for me to hear anyway.

First half lap

The last three reps I was chatting to a young lady who was walking when we were still on the running section.  Now I know how hard it is to keep going.  Running is not the easier thing to do to get fit that's for sure.  In fact the only thing that it has going for it is that its free! Oh and the huge endorphin release at the end of each session.....oh and the sense of achievement, and the friendships that can be made.....a fantastic club to join!  Ok, so running is blimmin marvellous, but it's bloody hard!  The fact is, and this is what 'they' don't tell you, it doesn't get easier! But, don't panic!  What you do find out is the fitter you get the further you can go or faster you can go.  You can increase your distance and pace. you start to think about running races.  Your body shape starts changing even if your weight doesn't.  You thinking starts to change, you start thinking things like "I can do this" or "I will do this"  Before long you're are not only thinking it but you are saying loud and proud "I AM DOING THIS!"

So there I was, chatting with Ali, as she was walking, and there she was saying things like "I can't do this"  I have been there, I still get there and say things like, believe me! But, if I can do it, then anyone can.  So we start of small.  When they all come to our beginners course, everyones ultimate goal is to run parkrun, preferably non stop, but most definitely with an hour! But what you got to realise in reaching that goal there is a series of mini goals to achieve first!  For instance, the first week was to run for a whole minute! And then to repeat it again and again and again! Right there, is five mini goals. I bet nobody even thought of that, and possible all just ignore the fact.

Ok, so after that, the following week, to help us reach our ultimate goal of 5k, we up the anti. Stretch it out to 2 minutes running.  Until like today which is 4 minutes running.  But it's hard, it's tough.  So the best thing to do is to switch to micro mini goals!  That's what I said to Ali.  I chatted to her all the way round for the next three laps. I told her to look for little goals around the rec to get to before she starts to walk again, and when she got there she could 'treat' herself to a walk.....or......choose another goal.  It's a technique that NaggyNeighbour taught me a few years back when we ran together.  Blue cars, lampposts, postboxes, anything to get to.  It's surprising how it works.  And it worked for her.  By now Grace was running next to us too, she was listening in and running, and smiling and enjoying the run.  Both of them started to look pretty confident as they looked out for places to get to before they even thought about walking.  Those next two laps flew by, I still thought we had to do another lap!  But I heard someone saying "This is the last lap!"  I was telling Ali that we still had one more to do!  I think she could have done it too, and Grace! They were both so very strong at the end!
I suddenly realised that their names, together, sounded so much like what an American T.V. show could be called.  I think we could possible even do a T.V. show, staring Ali and Grace! It made me chuckle that's for sure.

But today....today was pretty blimmin special!  The sun was shining we had over 30 beginners still with us, all showing true grit and determination. There were about 11 PWR's to help inspire all of them to keep on running!  A brilliant session today!  I feel truly blessed to be able to give back some of what I have received through PWR and running!

This is us at the end, having a good old stretch out

Stretches for all!

Geeky stats for you, see how far we ran!



I can do it!
I Will do it!
I am doing it!