I have much more of a love hate relationship with running than Sam! Whilst Sam has ran consistently since he was young, I used to think you should only run when you’re being chased (or about to miss happy hour!)
After watching Sam complete the Virgin London Triathlon in August 2011, I left with a sudden urge to try one myself. Encouraged by Sam, I entered a small sprint triathlon a few months away and told everyone I knew so I’d have to complete it. In hindsight, for someone who couldn’t run for a bus, and hadn’t ridden a bike for about eight years, this was a bit of a mistake, but I trained as hard as I could and on the day, with Sam by my side, I panicked and whined and struggled my way around the course, but I did it! That might have marked the end of my triathlon career but no one can take my medal away from me (even if it took me so long to get round I almost had to get it out the box at the finish and award it to myself!)
I contained running and for me, it finally clicked the following spring when I completed my first 10km race, the furthest id ever ran. Without Sam next to me to get me through I finally tapped into my mental strength, determined and desperate to complete the race
without stopping. When I finished at 60 min 28 seconds I was elated and from then on have ran regularly, even completing a challenging half marathon last autumn.
Us doing the Salisbury Half Marathon last October
Before we went on holiday I was completing Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide, meaning my workouts focused heavily on resistance training, with cardio made up of walking, cross trainer and the odd run. The guide is fantastic and I got done great results, but running took a sideline due to sore muscles from leg training. I have decided to restart the guide for my resistance/toning but I’m ready to start running again too and as ever, the best way to get training is enter a race!
It’s not hard to persuade Sam into a race or two so with him on board I’ve entered us both into Relish Running’s Bath Skyline races, four 10km races over the next four months around the sports training village of the University of Bath. Each race is awarded with a different interlocking medal to collect over the series.
Taking place on 16th November, 7th December, 18th January and 15th February, over two different alternating routes, the course looks primarily cross country and according to testimonials, muddy with some fairly decent inclines along the way! I love winter cross country running although I can take some persuading to go running in the rain so I’m glad of the push to get out and training, especially over Christmas and then the gloomy January period.
I’ve never raced on cross country terrain before, so my aim is to complete each race and ideally improve my time over each. For Sam I think it’s a PB all the way! I’m looking forward to the challenge and adding to my mini and Sams vast medal collection 😊
What are you all training for at the minute, we’d love to hear about them all!
Emma xx
Emma and Sam Share The World 