....but you don't look like a runner!

Driving home from work this morning in my post night shift haze I was struck by what a beautiful morning it was.  Its not often we are blessed with such beautiful sunrises and warm days in October so I thought it would be a perfect morning to go for a run, after all I had an hour to kill before I got into bed whilst I washed the kids swimming costume for their lesson tonight.  I mentally plotted my route deciding on the cycle path in our village which is approx a mile long so there and back would be a nice short run to ease me back into things, plus I was still aching like mad from my previous 4 miler.

I arrived home looking forward to my run (i know, it surprised me too), chucked the swimming kits in the wash and got changed.  As I opened the door to leave I suddenly had a crisis of confidence.  It's been a long time since I went out for a run......5 years in fact.  I don't actually look like a runner.  We have an almost constant stream of runners going along our road and I certainly don't "look" like any of them, perhaps the only thing we have in common is owning a pair of trainers.  

I closed the door, took the phone holder off my arm and skulked into the garage to switch on the treadmill.  3km later my washing had finished and I felt good about my run but it was soooo boring.  I thought back to when I trained for the Cardiff half in 2012 and I would run around the back roads on a sunny day, spotting buzzards sitting in hedges, being terrorised by a vicious Jack Russel (that thing could run!!!) and just lapping up those feels as I went.  It was much more interesting than looking at my washing going round and round and round and...your get the picture.
In simple terms I traded beautiful views like this...

for this......

What a muppet!!

I'm cross that I let these negative thoughts creep in and stop me from "going public".  I missed out on a beautiful morning, fresh air, country views just because I was worried about how people would view me running, and possibly how I view myself, after all, what does a runner look like?  It looks like someone putting one foot in front of the other, pushing themselves just out of their comfort zones and getting from A to B.  I guess what im trying to say is there are no hard or fast rules, no "uniform", no right and wrong.  Looks like I need to work on my mindset as well as my fitness and remember... 

The secret is out....

.....and its not really that exciting if the truth be told, but here it is:

In a moment of madness, swept away in the flurry of excitement from seeing friends facebook updates and photos of this years achievement I have signed myself up to do the Cardiff Half Marathon.....again.

Some of you may remember my last half marathon in 2012

Here is me with my big brother Chris at the start......

and who could forget my starring role in Casualty as I crossed the finish line in excruciating pain declaring I would NEVER EVER run again, never mind do a half marathon again.

So yeah....here I am, all signed up for half marathon number 2!  The initial plan to was just keep it a secret and not tell anyone till maybe a month before, that way it wouldn't matter too much if I didn't get round to training or didn't feel like it because no one would know but then, when I thought about it a bit more I realised what a cop out that was.  The whole point of signing up for this was to challenge myself again, regain some of that fitness I had before, motivate myself to get back into running and finally to raise some money for charity.  SO....by telling you guys my plan I have now made myself accountable, not just to myself (lets face it, i'm a push over anyway) but i'm accountable to all of you, my family, my friends and also to the charity I shall be running for. 

I am also hoping by keeping this blog and updating it regularly I can share my achievements and frustrations with you all whilst picking up tips from the runners out there but more importantly raise awareness for the charity I plan to run for.

I have made contact with my chosen charity today and am waiting to hear back from them before I tell you who it is but ill make no secret of the fact that without these guys the last year would have been even more difficult that it was, perhaps even impossible......but more of that later.

So there we have it....I told you it wasn't that exciting :) but now you guys know, there is no going back.

Let the journey commence  *GULP*