I was 59, the kids were adults, the husband had taken redundancy and found himself a hobby, work was becoming more toxic and stressful by the day. I knew I needed to do something. But what ? I felt too young for Bridge, I was never any good at sport (don’t think darts after a good night at the bar counts), fermenting, whilst fun was too kitchen bound; I needed something sociable, fun, accessible, stress free and preferably easy. And so I decided to try Running. It seemed to tick so many boxes and would be something I could do both with people or on my own when travelling for work. And sure if I got slim and beautiful in the process that would be an added bonus.
Taking up running meant that I needed to buy my first ever pair of runners which was exciting and then find a Group or Club that would happily welcome a 59 year old woman who had never even run for a bus before. And that proved surprisingly easy. My husband was in the Dave Bradshaw Running club so that seemed to be the obvious place to start and thankfully Dave took me on.
That first evening was daunting for me. I could tell I was the oldest and I could also see that I was by far the most beginner of beginners but everyone was so welcoming and chatty that I actually enjoyed myself and after a couple of weeks I didn’t really care that I was generally last home. If truth be told I think its comforting for everyone to have someone who’s slower than them and there was always someone happy to run with me either because they were getting over an injury or were just tired. And I was quite happy with that. I also liked having to leave work on time three times a week because I was going running. It had a lovely ring to it.
So I had found an outlet that ticked the sociable, fun and accessible boxes. But, I wasn’t too sure about the stress free and easy criteria. There was a lot of talk about PBs, 5Ks, Pace, 10ks, and Park Runs and I found all that a wee bit stressful. I didn’t sleep the night before the first few park runs. It just didn’t make sense, I liked the running, I didn’t need to win (luckily), I was with friends so what was I so stressed about. At that point I had a little chat with myself and reminded me that I was running for fun, for exercise, for my head, my old bones and the social interaction. I wanted to keep improving but I didn’t ever want to become a racer – stress to me is for the work place only.
Gradually I settled into the running and despite the fact that I have pulled every muscle known to man I’ve kept going. I love the Park Runs, I run and/or volunteer in Marley Park as often as I can. I’ve now become one of those smiling runners that I always envied on holidays and have run in Portugal, France, Austria, Chicago, San Diego, London, Dublin and Wexford. A New Years run on 01 Jan in Florence is planned. I’ve run race distances of 5k, 10K, 6K and 5 miles and generally enjoyed them all. I never stress about the result but quietly enjoy checking my progress on the Garmin that I swore I would never buy. My daughters have started doing the Park Runs too so along with the fact that their Dad is a very keen runner who has just completed his first marathon in a super time I think we have managed to turn into a family of runners.
I was 61 last week and celebrated with the Marley Park Run on Saturday – not a PB - and a gorgeous 14 KM chatty run on Sunday, my longest distance to date.
So now that I write it down I guess its true I have come a long way in 18 months (Thanks Dave and the great gang at DBR). I don’t ever see a Marathon in my future but I’m looking forward to wherever Running continues to bring me.
Well done Pauline. Very well written and hopefully inspires people to run. Xxx
ReplyDelete