So, why on earth am I trying to run in a 10k race?

I wrote a brief blog post about signing myself up for a 10km race, which I plan to run, in September of this year. The Richmond River Run  to be exact.

Given that I am trying to lose some weight, and am not in any great shape at the moment, due to a serious knee injury from before Christmas, and  I am exhausted and sleep deprived, it does sound like a bit of an insane goal.

Before I got pregnant with Small Boy, I was able to run 2-3 miles, easily, and actually ran in a 5km Race for Life the week before we found out we were pregnant with Small Boy, and did it in a respectable time. I love running. I find it helps to clear my head, and as I loathe any form of group exercise, and have no coordination, so look like a total fool when I attempt classes like Zumba, or similar, running is my “exercise” (unless you count walking everywhere, because I don’t drive) and I enjoy it. I get very sweaty, and I don’t look svelte and sleek like some of the runners I see, with their professional gear, expensive barefoot shoes and water bottles but I find it works for me.

I tried to start running again in November last year, but after damaging some tendons in my knee and ending up with a fluid build up and an infection in there, and being ordered to rest it for 3 months, my running shoes have been gathering dust since but have been dug out again recently.

Why am I pushing myself to run 10km, with only 4 months to get fit and in shape for it and my knee is still painful?

• Because it will give me a big goal to work towards, and when I set my self what seems like an impossible task, I pretty much try reach it, and usually succeed (hey, I gave up Facebook for 60 days, and nobody thought I would make it, if I can do that, 10km will be a snap)
• It will be good for my mental health, to get me running again, I find life easier to manage, when I am getting regular exercise, the endorphins that are released when I run, are far better than anything else I can describe and make me feel really good about myself
• It will give me some short-term, and long-term fitness goals to work for
• I will hopefully lose some weight in the process
• Most importantly of all, I will be raising money for Myeloma UK, which is the charity I support. My mother died of complications related to her treatment for Multiple Myeloma, and raising money to help them find better treatments and towards research into the disease means a lot to me and our family.

I plan to try to blog about my training, and what long-term and short-term goals I am going to set myself and about my progress. I am still unsure about whether I want to put my actual weight, and my weight loss goals on the blog, for public view, but I may change my mind on that.

So there you go. I have been out for some gentle jogs recently and am slowly getting back into the swing of running and pacing myself. I am hoping to be properly up and running, pardon the pun, by the end of this month. I also have a running buggy, which I plan to use, with Small Boy as it’s passenger. It will be good for him, to see me exercising, and also, he loves it when we run, with the running buggy and encourages me, “run faster Mummy”, “don’t stop”, so I have my own built-in coach and motivator!

I will also be setting up a page for raising funds for Myeloma UK. I am hoping to raise £500 this time round. Who knows, maybe next year, I will be in shape to run a half marathon. Time will tell!