I never thought I'd ever be any good at running or even enjoy it. When I was younger, my sister was always the good runner, she had the legs for it... It wasn't until I was at uni and it was exam time, I thought what better way to procrastinate than running? Exam time running slowly turned into park running with my dad, when I was home to every Saturday morning of my own volition. I remember the first time I went on a long run with my dad, and my sister joined us, not to be out done. I'm lucky enough to call the Lake District home and so we were running round one of the smaller, but no less beautiful lake and I was out pacing her. Me, major geek Jennifer, beating my sister the cross country queen. Safe to say I haven't let her forget it!!
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| Father daughter post park run selfie |
Things got really serious though when I met my partner. I'd wanted to do a mud run, obstacle course for ages. I'd tried to rope in my dad, my friends, my course mates at uni, but to no avail. That was until I was innocently swiping through Tinder one day and I found this guy with a flag and some pretty crazy adventures to his name... A few months later his birthday rocks around, he had two entries for the Winter Wolf Run and conveniently we have the same sized feet. Some might say it was fate, others might say he planned it. Either way I had a blast! I've never been so cold, so covered in mud - one of the marshals on the course told me that if I ran really quickly, the surface tension of the water in the mud would stop me sinking. Me being super gullible believed him. Step, step, splat. Face first into the mud... Marshal and boyfriend in stitches. That being said I was ready to do it all again! And I have done it, three times and counting. The last time through sheer will and determination I was the first woman to complete the course on the Saturday (please see the terrible photo of me at the finish line).
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| #firstlady |
The issue with running is that once of go so far, you just want to go that extra mile... When I started 5km seemed like the longest distance, but then I saw my times come down. The same with 10km. Then I though seen as I had entered so many of these events in the coming year I should start taking running a bit more seriously, but you know what it's like, life gets in the way. The Ultra Tour of Arran rolls around and I still haven't run much further than a 10k *panic* Luckily, I'm one of these horribly optimistic people, so everything was going to be OK. It was for the most part, although I am definitely not winging it to quite the same extent again. I guess knowing what to expect after Arran definitely helps and really I threw myself in at the deep end - from 10k to multi-day ultra in one fell swoop... Story of my life.
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| Oh hello there, you caught me out for a jog... |
Fast forward to today; I've ran further this year than I ever thought possible and we're only halfway through the year. I've been converted and I bought a Rat Race and a Wolf Run season pass. Our holidays this year consist of travelling to remote parts of the country (most of which have nuclear power stations in the vicinity and being a nuclear engineer, I point this out every time, much to my boyfriend's dismay), running, but always together. I couldn't be happier.
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| YEAH!!! |
So my next event is in a few weeks time: Rat Race's Man vs. Coast in Cornwall. 28+ miles around the Cornish coast. If Arran is anything to go by, it's going to be tough, but the epic scenery will be worth it (cue the Poldark like panoramic shots). I've been working my knees back up to doing distance after the Ultra Tour of Arran and Dirty Weekend, running and cycling, so the aim is to complete it injury free and to just enjoy the experience.
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