We did the Bristol Race for Life

So Jessie and I and her pals ran The Race for Life on Saturday. We ran in the afternoon in glorious sunshine. I have to admit I thought it was going to be a bit of a mud bath after the torrential rain we had in the morning. I felt for the morning runners doing the Race for Life 10k.

Anyway we got round the 5k route with a bit of a struggle. I joked in my last post that Jess might run bare foot if she didn't wear her trainers at least once before the race. (She had been refusing to wear them despite loving them when we bought them). But that's exactly what happened. Last year she flew round the course wearing basic kiddies trainers from Clarks. This year she was wearing new "clumpy" trainers,  if that's the word to use, from Clarks, but she struggled and moaned so much that I said, "right, take off the trainers and run bare foot!" and that's exactly what she did. In fact her mate did the same and all of a sudden they were racing ahead. They loved it and their feet felt so much better on the cool soft grass. They got lots of cheers from the crowd as they ran along in their muddy socks.

I think she should just wear her daps next time or just a very basic plimsoll/running shoe. Just goes to show these fancy trainers aren't all what they are cracked up to be. Does anyone have any tips on running shoes for kids? Obviously Jessie is only nine and wouldn't normally be running 5k, but it would be interesting to hear if any other parents have had similar problems with kiddies trainers.

We rounded off the run with a huge picnic and a game of rounders! Lots of fun.

Too Much Too Soon

After the initial euphoria of running for more than 15 minutes, I began to find running boring and monotonous. It was a chore and my joints hurt. There's got to be more to running than this. It's easy to see how people give up.

Determined NOT to give up, I decided to try running off road on holiday a month or so before my first Race for Life.

I was inspired. I had finally discovered what all the fuss was about. There is simply no comparison between running by the sea on coast paths and beaches to the streets of Bristol. For the first time in years I felt free. I breathed in the fresh air, held my head high and wished I could run here all the time. Running really CAN be enjoyable and it felt easy. Rather than thinking "my hip hurts - when can I stop?" I wanted to keep going and run as far as I could.

But disaster struck. After running four times in one week - something I never did in Bristol - I pulled a muscle. I was at the farthest point on the beach when I felt my left calf muscle twinge and then in a moment I collapsed to the ground. My leg really hurt and I knew I had messed up. Running too much, too quickly, without decent running shoes and stretching properly. What was I thinking! I slowly limped back to my family feeling very sorry for myself and a little embarrassed too as I was covered in sand from head to toe. I felt I had failed. Maybe running was just not for me. I was devastated.

I was learning the hard way. I was going to have to approach this running stuff properly if I was going to improve. Looking back at that time I went through a bit of a crash course in running. My physio took me through running style and pronation, and the sports shops kindly advised me how expensive running shoes are! I thought running was all about putting one foot in front of the other, swinging your arms back and forth at speed. How wrong was I?