It was a year ago when I was in Salisbury with friends from New Malden at the time of the Salisbury half marathon. The finish line is close to the cathedral and as we watched participants walk away in specially printed T-shirts and wearing medals, my friend Deborah suggested we should enter the following year. She said it would be a great achievement, a target for our exercise plans and a life changing event. I had never run before (apart from occasions when I needed to catch a bus) and had no interest in running. But, by the end of the day, I had agreed to enter the Salisbury half in 2017.
Before the start, Salisbury half
I spent the next couple of months trying to work out how I could get out of this commitment. By November I realised no excuses would be accepted and bought a pair of running shoes. At the end of December, I went to park run for the first time and completed the 5km route although I did walk the hilly bits in Richmond Park. The next park run was the flat course at Weymouth where I found that running wasn’t too bad. It was in January 2017 that I signed up for the half marathon – you can see I was one of the first from the number 3 I wore.
On 1 October 2017, I completed my first half marathon. My practice runs hadn’t been more than 10 miles, so this was the longest course I’d ever completed. I was determined to run all the way round and to finish before the three-hour limit. In spite of rain, I ran the course in 2 hours 51 minutes and am now the proud owner of this medal.
I’m now thinking of entering the Casterbridge half which takes place in Dorchester on 27 May 2018. Who would have thought it?
the writer is a lonely hunter 
The writer is a runner! Brilliant.
Indeed!
Well done!