On Progress

Last week after complaining on twitter about being slowed down by hoards of slow, unaware students during my last 10 mile tempo run before this weekend's marathon, I received a reply back from a fellow runner who I'd chatted to before but had never gone to the effort of clicking through to read what she was about.  Her twitter profile told me she also ran the Paris marathon this year.  It also told me she ran it pretty darn fast.  And her half time was impressive too.

But it wasn't until I got through to her blog, that I was really impressed.  She's listed all of her races, in date order, and you can see her progression in times.  It's awesome to see how she has progressed. From a 29.20 pb in 2010 Sarah has worked her way all the way to a speedy 20.39 parkrun.  And her longer distances are equally awesome to see get better as time goes past.  

So I thought I'd just show you some of my journey.  Because it really is about taking loads (and I mean thousands) of little tiny baby steps - to make progress.  And it happens! 

In 2004 I entered a 9 mile run to raise money to go travelling.  I can't find any record of the time I finished this event but it felt like the longest thing anyone has ever run, ever.  I trained on country lanes around my parents house before I even owned an ipod! wow, right? 

Back from my travels in 2006 I ran a ' Race for Life' with Mom and Sis. I peed my pants. We all got very sweaty and probably slept all afternoon afterwards.  It was fun though.  Can't find my finishing time but I seem to remember it was somewhere around 35 minutes.  I was just pleased I'd run(/peed) the whole damn way. 

Pretty sure there were several other Race for Life events between the years of 2006-2010 but I can't find any record of finishing times... I can tell you now though, my main concern at the time definitely wasn't getting a pb or even a good time- it was just to run the whole 5k without stopping.  

I ran my first Parkrun at Heaton Park Manchester, early 2011:  27.06

I ran my second Parkrun in Fallowfield Manchester April 2011: 27.47

Fourth Parkrun, Fallowfield Manchester 30th April 2011: 25.40

I ran my first 10k in Manchester May of 2011 and couldn't walk afterwards.  For about a whole day. Finished in 1 hr 4 seconds.

Eighth Parkrun, Fallowfield Manchester 30 July 2011 24.36

I ran my first half marathon in Glasgow in 2011 and cried when I finished and couldn't walk for about 2 days.  It took me 2hrs 6minutes and it was painful! Above left is a 10k trail run I did as part of my training, the Relish Running Dyrham Park 10k.  Very hard but amazing to run alongside herds of deer. Above right is me just after finishing my first half marathon. 

Bupa Manchester 10k May 2012 53 mins

15th Parkrun, 1 September 2012, 23.55

Prague 10k September 2012 52mins

I ran my second half marathon in Petersborough in 2012 and it was pain-free.  The sun shone and I finished in 1 hr 53.

I ran my third half marathon in Wilmslow as part of my training for the Paris marathon.  It was freezing but I finished in 1 hr 49.

18th Parkrun 23 March 2013, 23.30

Completed my first marathon in Paris on 7 April 2013 in 4hr 10 minutes

I ran another pb this year at the Manchester 10k, a super hot day, sun blazing.  28 May 2013 49.26

19th Parkrun 8 June 2013 23.05

Two weekends ago I ran 22.02 at my 20th Parkrun, in 53rd place overall and 1st lady out of a field of 263 runners.  I also came first in my age category.  

This wasn't just an excuse for me to talk about myself loads.  I just wanted to let you know where I started, and I'm always trying to get better, and if you're thinking about starting running but just feel super slow and that you'll never get anywhere well now you know where's good to start.  I started with peeing my pants.