Let me put this plainly – I am not a runner. I hate running. In fact, I’m not really a fan of any sporting activities unless it involves dancing in a nightclub or maybe Zumba.
So when I decided to take on the British Vitality 10k, it was a big undertaking for me. Not least because I don’t enjoy running, but also because I’ve never pushed my my body to that kind of physical limit. The idea came at a spa (obvs, running and being fit and beautiful seems like a completely achievable goal when you’re at a spa), after Christmas, when I was drawing up my list of New Year’s Resolution. The resolutions were as follows:

I signed up with my boyfriend, Josh, in January and I was quite swift at getting the training going. IT WAS SO HARD. Given that I genuinely had never run further than 500m in my life, I found the first month gruelling and frustrating – my general fitness was extremely poor. I kept plugging away though and by March, I was able to comfortably run 5k in just over thirty minutes – SUCCESS!
Then came the Crohns flare up and the liquid diet – my training drew to a complete and utter standstill. Just getting to and making it through the day at work became my main priority pre liquid diet and once April came and I was on all liquid… well, hunger isn’t much of a motivator!! I did go for one run and well… it was interesting. Click here to read about it! Day 14: Halfway baby!
I managed to get back into it again by June, but by then I was only one month until race day and I still hadn’t run further than 6k. Furthermore, every time I ran I was experiencing really bad stomach ache – something that was definitely slowing me down! My Mum joked that because I didn’t have any large intestine, everything had more room to be thrown about. I think she was probably right! I resided that adrenaline would get me through the day and I would just keep running 5k as practice and hope for the best on the day… a risky strategy I appreciate.
We woke up at 0630 on the morning of the run to get to the starting line in central London for 0900. I honestly have to say that it was one of the best days of my life.
The atmosphere on the day was incredible and to run with thousands of other people was just exhilarating. Of course the real motivator was the huge amount of money I was able to raise for Crohns & Colitis UK and I was truly blown away by the generosity of family, friends, colleagues and fellow ‘Crohnies’!!
When I had to walk for a bit during the run as my stomach winced with pain, someone screamed ‘GO ON CROHNS AND COLITIS!’ It was all I needed to keep going and make it to the finishing line in 1 hr 7 mins – my best ever 5k time, twice over.
The feeling crossing the finishing line was just incredible and to have Josh run alongside me – I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who has sponsored me so far. I thought of you all and the thousands of people in the UK who suffer from Crohns or Colitis every step of the way.
It gives me great pleasure to say, at time of writing, I have raised an incredible £1,430.00 for Crohns & Colitis UK! But never fear, there is still time to donate. Click here to see my Justgiving page. (One final plug is allowed!)