Written by Cory Watt
Anyone can do it…
Let’s get started
Payment Successful.
Shit.
Well, I guess I have to do it now.
Up until this point entering in a half marathon was always just a thought. Now there was an end goal, I had to be ready for the 16th May 2021.
Seven years ago when I last ran 10 km I was the fittest I had ever been, training for Football (Soccer) every day of the week and two games on the weekend. When all of that suddenly stopped as I had to hang up the boots a lot earlier in my life than I had expected to (a story for another day). Ever since then I had not done anything for myself fitness and health-wise. I had every excuse under the sun, working in the hospitality industry while studying full time. I just “didn’t have the time” to focus on myself.
This year I wanted to change all of that. When I first agreed to this half marathon. I was not fit by any means. Far from it. I knew that if I had a goal in place, I would stick to the training and complete this half marathon. Bring on the training!
Preparation.
16th May was 4 months away. Surely just a couple of runs here and there for the next 3 months and then bumping that up a bit for the last month will get me across the line. What more do you have to do? I used to be able to do this easily back in the day so surely it won’t take that long to get into it.
The first run.
I took it easy with the first run. Just a quick run around the block to start with. Half an hour later. A hot sweaty mess struggles up the driveway struggling to catch his breath, feeling wrapped with myself for completing my first run. I looked down at my phone. 2.5km completed.
WTF. That can not be right. The excuses started coming in again. “Yeah I probably was a bit slow as I forgot about the hill in the middle”, “It was my first run, you can’t expect too much”, “half an hour is still decent in this hot weather right?” From this moment on I knew a lot more planning, mental strength and dedication, would be needed to get me through.
Planning:
Although planning was something I brushed off at the start. I could not stress how important this is. Yes, you are running for 21kms, but I quickly learnt that there are plenty of other aspects you need to take into consideration. Things like Yoga to help stretch out all the niggles after running and HIIT classes to really put those calf muscles and Quads to the test, not to mention hydration and nutrition! After a bit of googling and chats with close family and friends, I had a plan ready to put into action.
Every Week I aimed for 3 runs:
- Usually one long run. (10kms)
- 2-3 short runs (4-5kms)
- 2x Yoga classes
- 2x HIIT Classes
The first 2 months was a bit of a mixed bag with training and I didn’t follow this schedule as strictly as I probably should have. I definitely made up for that in the last 2 months. I made sure I was never skipping a day where I should be training as the nerves started to kick in that the 16th of May was just around the corner. Around a month out from the run, I ran 15km, as many people I would talk to would say “If you could do 14km then you can run 21. It is all mental after that point” After this run, I felt good about myself and I started feeling a sense of self-belief that this 21km was actually possible for me!
A week out from the date. Nerves were kicking in. I was only doing light training in the week leading up to the event as I didn’t want to do any damage to the body this close.
Event Day:
The day was finally here. 16th May 2021. The day I am going to run 21kms. The race started at 9 am. Waiting at the starting line the nerves were at an all-time high, I ran through the start gate, nervous and excited to get this over and done with. The first 10kms was really just trying to find my pace, not worrying what other people around me were doing as I had a goal of 2 hours 30 minutes which was 7-minute km so as long as I was keeping to that time I was happy. 10-15km the tiredness started to kick in, not many people around me now, everyone is in single file. Still feeling good about myself at this point as I knew I could run 15kms so I always had that in the back of my mind.
15-20km. This was extremely difficult. I could hear myself saying. “This is the longest you have ever run now.” This is where the mental aspect really comes into play, not to mention that the last 5 km of the run was on a slight incline, which really didn’t help the situation. I kept pushing through, trying to lay out smaller goals along the way “just make it to 16kms”, “only 3 more km left to go now”, “the quicker you get to the finish, the quicker you get your chicken and chips.”
The last KM.
My run at this point is probably slower than most peoples walk. None the less I was still going. Something weird did happen along this point. I literally became sick of listening to music, no genre or artist was doing it for me at this stage, so out the headphones came. There were around 200 meters left, and I could see the finish line. I thought that would make things easier and give me my 10th wind, but my body couldn’t give anymore. I look up and my daughter is running towards me. As soon as she gets close enough, she reaches out, grabs my hand and tugs me over the finish line. I could not have asked for a better way to finish the race.
I had done it! In a total time of 2 hours 33 minutes. 3 minutes off my target but still immensely proud of my efforts.
You can do it too!
I know most of you are probably thinking, no, no half marathons are not for me. That is ok, the main goal is just to make sure you get out there and give something new a try, or get back into something you used to love but never have the time for anymore. You never know how great you may feel unless you try it! I find that if I need to come up with some ideas, I go for a run as that is my place where I can just zone out and think about things differently. It isn’t just about the end goal of running the half marathon for me, it is the smaller things like mental clarity and feeling better about myself for getting out there and doing something for me.
