Loggerheads 5k

After signing up to the trail to 5k in December last year, the day of the run had come around 08/03/2025- far too quickly! As I had noted in Jan, I didn't attend anymore in person sessions as I was feeling far too anxious about the fact I was really a beginner, having never ran before! I struggled with elements of the plan, mostly mentally, I had a real block in my brain about the whole running thing. So I decided to break it down, keep on hill walking as I am in training for my marathon trek in June, that will help with trail running ups, and then started couch to 5k as I felt I needed something really solid to follow. I chose Sarah Millican as my person as I love her accent and find her hilarious in general. This was at the end of Jan- I was afraid that I had started it too late as it was a 9week course and my run was before then!

Anyway, my stubborn Taurus streak helped me to stay on track, alongside amazing family support. Every increase in the amount of time jogging freaked me out, I was getting actual anxiety feelings, my stomach was in knots, quite a crazy physical reaction to running really! 60 seconds was so hard, 90 seconds was so hard, 3minutes I thought was the end, 5minutes threw me as I did it. I remember chatting to my dad when I proudly rang him to tell him about my achievement, he said, if you can run 3 mins, you can run 5, if you can run 5, you can run 10, if you can run 10, you can run 20, it is all in your head. And this hit something in me, every increase in the minutes on the app, I had managed, even though I was convinced I would not. Perhaps him and husband were on to something, perhaps my brain was holding me back!

This revelation was it, the moment. Something had clicked again, perhaps I could do more than I thought? After a stressful Friday in work, I decided to just go for longer, try a 10 min jog- I picked Taylor Swift All Too Well 10minute version to accompany me, and smashed it. That day, I jogged for 23 mins and 57 seconds in a row and was elated. I picked a stop point rather than realising the time, otherwise another 3seconds would have been fine. That was the 21/02/2025. I followed the program for a few more jogs, then on the 27/02/2025 I decided to just go as long as I could, so 47minutes of continuous jogging was achieved! I stopped because I reached the main road- no way I was doing more than a walk along there! This could have been a 3miler, but I wasn't sure as I had walked the initial part for 5mins, then walked back to the car along the road. 

Roll on 03/03/2025- mere days before my 5k trail run, I went and jogged 3.13miles, so a 5k! The jogs were all on the flat, so I knew the up up up on the trail run would be difficult, but the plan was to take my time on the up and just jog what I could. No pressure. It was also allowing me to see that maybe I can do all the things, just in my own time. Husband had said he would be my support team, and he has been great this whole time, coming on my super slow jogs with me, allowing me time to go on my own after work, and generally just being awesome. He was my personal photographer on the trail run, haha. 

The morning of the trail run we got up pretty early, and left home at 7.15am, getting to Loggerheads with a lot of time, haha. I had a very anxious tummy, but husband is good at distracting me, we chatted away and were being quite silly which was lovely. My mum, sister and niece had said they would meet me at the end, I was convinced I would be well over an hour, as jogging on the flat was just under 50minutes, and the uphill was intense on this trail. Husband and I made a playlist, one song each, it was for over an hour at my insistence.

One of my lovely colleagues told me about keeping expectations low when we are on duty in work, we usually have two expectations- have lunch and leave on time, but you can always go lower! I like this concept, so I decided on three expectations- finish the course, don't break anything, and she added in, finish with both trainers!haha. I was fully expecting to come last, and content with that.

When we all went to the start line, I asked husband to wait back with me until everyone had gone, and then we would just go at my slow jog pace, popped a headphone in each and set off. The stairs I posted back in Jan, I will add another photo here just to show, were the initial part, and they are steep and I struggle, so it was all about the up for me. We got to the stairs, I took my time, stopped to catch my breath, then carried on. I jogged as much as I could, the up went more up than I realised, but was interspersed with some nice undulation and scramble bits so added some fun. So glad it had been dry recently, might have been deadly otherwise! I got lapped by lots of people on the 10k, but didn't care. I don't think the smile left my face, even when I was physically and mentally struggling, even on the walking bits. We jogged a downhill section and sang 'pink pony club' loud and proud. The last section back to the end was really hard, I really wanted to just stop- brain based mostly- but I forced myself to keep the momentum. Running towards that finish line was overwhelming, husband went ahead to get shots of me finishing and my mum, sister and niece were waiting! I was honestly buzzing, and continued to do so for the next few days.