Run with Pride...
Happy Wednesday everyone Sam here! It’s going to be another nice one… summer is truly here!
Getting a little bit of Vitamin D every day is so beneficial to our health in many ways so why not combine a burst of sun with a leisurely run? Or even a not-so-leisurely run?!!
As most of you may know by now the SMASH team are running the Vitality 10k this bank holiday Monday and we are taking a few of the SMASH crew with us.
To some, a 10k can be seen as a tiny challenge, nothing to be worried about… to others it's an impossible challenge that they wouldn’t even consider doing. There was once a time where I couldn’t even run 1 mile and I had to push the boundaries of my comfort circle to sign up for my first ever race.
The feeling of accomplishment having finished became an addiction… one of my colleagues asked me yesterday how many races have I competed in and upon consulting my spreadsheet (yea I’m a massive nerd!), I found that Monday will be race number 25! – 8x 10km’s 13x half marathons (21km) 2x full marathons (42km) and a 10 miler. Having signed up to 2 marathons coming up in the next few months you may imagine that I am a pro when it comes to a “mere” 10k but I do still get the nerves, the worries about giving up, the (self-given) pressure to get a good time.
Ash is the same… He did his first ever race last year and was dreading it! He had never run 1k and was always the first to admit he hated running in the past! However, since that first run he has said that signing up for it was one of the best things he could have done as he now feels mentally stronger from training for it and LOVES the race day atmosphere!
On Monday (as far as we are aware) there are four of our SMASH crew joining us for the run (please let us know if you are also coming!). For two of the crew, Jimmy and Reka, it will be their first ever race and both are excited… Reka is “buzzing” and Jimmy is also feeling “nervous as hell” and slightly under-prepared. For Helen and Katy, Monday will not be their first race but the same feeling of being under-prepared still creeps up. Time passes so quickly and we can get distracted from our goals. For Helen in particular she managed to squeeze the majority of her training into the last 7 weeks but stuck to the plan religiously... something sure to be of benefit on the big day!
Everybody has different limits to their comfort zone and we are so proud of these guys for pushing theirs. It may be too late to join the run on Monday but why not come down and support us? The weather is supposed to be tan-worthy and it’s a great atmosphere!!
If you missed this challenge and fancy another shot at joining us for a 10k run, Ash and I have already signed up to the Pride 10k on August 11th this year… we did it last year and it’s a smaller but super fun 10k in Victoria park. https://priderun10k.org/ THE TIME IS NOW!!
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Sam & Ashley
.S. For a bigger challenge why not sign up for the Loch Ness Marathon in September with myself and Reka. There is also a 10km option with the bonus of being in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK!
http://www.lochnessmarathon.com/
