Fitness Programmes and Discipline

As part of #Blogging101 yesterday, I searched for blogs that might interest me by looking for tags and topics. As a keen participant in weekly parkruns, one of the tags I searched for was #parkrun.

I came across a very interesting and inspiring blog post by Allison, aka The Running Princess, which told the story behind her training for the Marathon de Paris 2015.

The connection didn’t stop at the parkrun, and her recent parkrun debut. It just happens that she lives in Perth and is a teacher. My Gran and Granddad lived for most of my life in Perth. I lived there for a while and went to school at Kinnoull Primary School. My Mum went to Perth Academy and was later a music teacher in schools in and around Perth. I love the Fair City!

The article reminded me of my own marathon training for the Sheffield Marathon and two London Marathons back in the early nineties. She has it all planned out, and it looks like she will stick to it. I also planned my training and was very disciplined about every step along the way, literally. It pays off.

This takes me to the present day. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Since leaving the Army, I had gradually let myself go. I was shocked to discover that I was fifty pounds (23 kilos) overweight. My GP spoke to me about diet and fitness and changes in lifestyle. I told her that I would work out a programme and execute it. I could see that she was skeptical.

My plan was to control my diet and to use my indoor rowing machine to take my weight down to a level when I could start running without fear of injuring my hip and knee joints. My aim was to lose the weight in 19 weeks. I achieved my target in 16 weeks and I have maintained my correct weight range ever since. To accomplish this, you really MUST exercise great self-discipline. Believe me!

Parkrun friends

When I started my running, I thought I’d give the Andover parkrun a try. I became addicted! This Saturday, I will complete my 107th parkrun. Most of them have been at Andover, but I have also completed two at Graves Park Sheffield and two at Greenham Common, Newbury. I love New Year’s Day, because the organisers change the timings so that it is possible to do the double: Andover at 9 am and Newbury at 1030. The weather is never too good at that time of year though.

Whilst exploring blogs, looking for references to #parkrun, I also came across another really interesting post called When Stats Don’t Matter by Steve Bonthrone. Steve’s profile is even more inspiring than Allison’s. You should read it. Coincidentally, Steve also parkruns in Perth. Allison’s husband is called Steve. Could these two Steves be one and the same person?

My 50th parkrun

Although I have visited around eighty countries in my life, and struggle to name my “home,” if I were forced to do so, I would say that Perth is my home city. So I will be following both Allison’s and Steve’s blogs, and will definitely be making the effort to get to the North Inch at 9 o’clock one Saturday morning when I next visit my sister in Fife.

Note: In the featured image, I am on the right with the orange sleeves and the black (parkrun 10th anniversary) t-shirt.

#Blogging101