From couch to 5k

My name is Steph and I'm a runner. I usually run 4-5 days a week, usually a minimum of 5k (just over 3 miles) to 21k (half marathon) distance. Running is my "me time", it makes me feel alive and helps me feel purpose and something to aim for.

The photo below is of me running a local parkrun (free weekly timed 5k on a saturday) in January 2020. In this event I was the second lady to cross the line in a pretty boggy course, with an official time of 24:18

But I haven't always been a runner The picture below is from June 2018, it's me with about 70kgs of excess body fat, and a rare photo of me outside at the time. Days were spent mostly playing video games or browsing the internet, and other than going to work a very sedentary desk job, I confined myself mostly to the home.

But then something changed and I made a choice for my health, I could not walk a flight of stairs without being out of breath and feeling my heart pound. But Alyson had started to make changes to her life a couple of months previously, had started to see results of intermittent fasting and exercise, and so I wanted to see if it could work for me. It was very gradual progress at first. Changing to eating over a smaller window of time, switching to healthier options, reducing my caloric intake, I started to see results and wanted to start getting active. I downloaded a couch to 5k app. The app started gradually, running for just 60 seconds at a time, but this was too much for me. I would try to run quickly, get out of breath and stop. The app taught me to slow down and focus on completing the intervals, even if my "running" ended up slower than walking, which at first it did. The gradual build up of the app had some scary jumps in it, I remember the first time trying to run for 5, 10 minutes straight was terrifying, and the 20 minute run almost put me off altogether when I looked ahead. But I trusted the process, kept to a slow plod, and made it through to the final week of the app, running for 30 minutes straight. Alyson and I had signed up for a local 5k and I was scared to find that in my 30 minutes of running I had achieved nowhere near a 5k, so we did a practice 5k around our neighbourhood. It took an hour and was painful, I wasn't used to pushing my body and would panic when my heart rate would elevate. But getting through it gave me such a confidence boost, and I wanted to do it again. The event came around and it was fun to run as part of a group, and even though I was almost dead last, having Alyson next to me and encouraging me, I got through and actually enjoyed myself! Gradually I was starting to catch the running bug. I would run on my own and gradually increase my distances. I was still slow but as my excess weight started to fall off, and I became more comfortable with exercise, my pace quickened. I remember breaking 50, 45, 40 and 35 minutes for the first time over 5k, and the progress was addictive. I thought that running sub-30 was impossible, and I remember the first parkrun where I came close, on May 4th wearing a very sweaty chewbacca costume and thinking, if I can do this dressed like this, then sub-30 must be coming soon

And it did, and I never looked back. The first sub-30 5k was probably the turning point at which I felt a "proper" runner, and it gave me the confidence to progress to longer distances and to push myself further. Right now I've run lots of 5ks and 10ks, several half marathons, and I can cover a 5k in around 23 minutes. And I'm excited for what the future holds and falling deeper into the world of running madness, and collecting a few more medals along the way!