Running Scared....

Why Running Scared?

Because being scared is ultimately what started me running, and should keep me going...

Around 2006 I was at my heaviest of around 17.5-18 stone. I didn't feel particularly fat but I knew I was.
I was firmly in the obese part of the BMI scale. Years of not quite enough physical exercise (exacerbated by long term knee injury) and slightly over eating had taken their toll.
At the time I was suffering from a bout of IBS, and in the course of all the tests to confirm it, a couple of the blood tests came back as slightly higher than normal.
One of them was the ferritin (the protien that carries iron in the blood) levels, a high amount of which is a sign of too much iron in the blood which can lead to serious illness, and the other blood glucose, clearly a sign of possible issues leading to diabetes. Both were clearly being caused by my weight, with the amount of fat being stored IN my organs, not just around my body...

And it scared me...

So I decided to do something about it and lose weight. I followed a traditional "calorie controlled diet" and manage to get down to just below 14 stone in a couple of stints, by 2009. Unfortunately at the end of 2009 I injured my shoulder coming off my enduro, which prevented me from doing much in the way of exercise for the following 6 months, during which time my weight rose slightly back up to around 15 stone.

This time I used the online ProPoints Plan from weight Watchers.
It's very easy (once you have set it up and added your favourites), and most importantly convenient to use, especially if you have an iPhone where the WW app lets you track food and activities throughout the day, as you eat/drink/do them, which I found a great aid to ensuring a balanced diet and avoid over eating.
The website is full of good advice about healthy eating (balancing your diet to get the correct intake of nutrients, not JUST counting the calories. 1500 calories from a bucket of icecream and 1500 calories from three square meals are not the same apparently) and suggestions for getting you active without busting a gut...
Seriously, give it a go. It works, it's good despite the obvious stigma...
Oh and you don't HAVE to go to meetings...

In late spring of 2010 I was waiting for an operation on the shoulder, but the rest of me had recovered from the off well, so I got back into hill walking, a passion of mine for many years, and started doing some long walks of a weekend. As my fitness improved and from the walking I decided, despite medical advice to the contrary because of my knees, to try to start running again.
I initially followed the The Couch to 5k Plan which takes you from couch potato through a series or walk/run programs until you can eventually run 5k.
I found it a little easy though, so just ran for the length of a song on my iPod then walked till the chorus of the next one etc....
Soon enough I was running 5K, albeit with some discomfort from my knees...

It was about then things went a little awry. My long awaited shoulder op happened in July 2010, and I was keen to get running again as soon as possible. As I was finding it easy I pushed a little too hard and suffered from Piriformis Syndrome meaning a 5 week break from running.
Fortunately for me this lead into the 3 week course for my post operation shoulder rehabilitation, so I convinced the rehab therapist to work on my knees/legs and forget the shoulder.

After 3 weeks of intense therapy and training and most importantly stretching my legs, despite the knee injuries I had the basic grounding to allow me to start running again, providing I started off slowly and built up pace and distance gradually over time.

Next time I will talk of the training I have done since then and the issues I have had along the way, the training I intend to do and the theory behind it as well as my decision to enter the Great North Run in September.

Talking of which, have you sponsored me yet?
Please sponsor me to run the

on behalf of the

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