I'll be six calendar months into my challenge on Christmas Day, but today marks the halfway point in terms of days. So time for a little reflection on the past six months...
A good way of motivating yourself to do something is telling everyone that you're going to do it. If you're anything like me, once it's out of your mouth, that's it, you have to stick to it.
I was in the bottom set at school for PE. Some people are built for action and exercise, but I have a natural inclination for keeping still and being creative. So, as I've said a lot before, 1,000 miles is a big challenge for me. Getting fit has been rather strange experience. I half imagined I would be a lean, glowing, graceful goddess of fitness by now (not really!), but running is still more difficult than I'd like it to be. Sometimes it comes easy, other times it's like I've never run a step before.
When I decided to do this challenge, I was aiming high - to raise £1,000 for the Smile Train. I thought people would think I was a bit mad, but perhaps I would be able to convince a few people to part with some cash for a good cause, highlighted by my silly running. Well the amount of support has been a lovely surprise. Halfway through and I've almost raised £1,400 now - how good is that?! It means TEN children can have corrective operations to change their lives. Fantastic! Thank you everyone.
Here's some photos my friend Donna took at the Abbey Dash in November - including a bit of warm-up aerobics
I enjoy doing races more than I thought I would. I'm not very competitive, but I like the atmosphere of running with thousands of other people and having a shorter-term goal to train for. If I get a good time, then that's a bonus. I also never thought I'd do a marathon - or a half marathon for that matter - but I'm going to give it a good try. Along with the cleft lip and palate children and all my sponsors, the thought of those 26 miles is another good motivation to get out and run.
The weather has been less of a factor than I imagined. I was dreading the winter, but the cold weather has worked in my favour and helped rather than hindered my running. I'm dreading the spring and summer now!
Running through my problems with painful shin splints in the first few months thankfully worked out well, and it was a lesson in perseverance.
Today I celebrated the halfway point with a little run and a few Christmas tunes on my iPod.
Here's today's run
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