Where It All Began.....

It started with my friend Kat.  Well, more specifically it started when she told me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was autumn 2005.  I was 25 and she was 28, soon to turn 29.  It was my first experience of knowing someone with cancer, and it knocked me for six when I found out.  I didn't really know how to react (googling is not to be advised I soon learnt) but I figured that as she was young, she was more than likely going to be OK.
Fast forward a year and you could have forgiven me for thinking I was right!  Kat celebrated her 30th birthday with a big party at Syngenta, which is where we had met when we had both worked there, and (more importantly) was in remission.  Unfortunately, she wasn't in remission for very long and soon afterwards we got the news that her cancer had returned.

It was this news that made me stop and look at my own life.  I enjoyed my job, had good friends and lovely family, but felt like there was something missing.  I was a latecomer to the joys of exercise, but had spent a few years going rock climbing regularly and doing lots of walking.  I had also done a bit of running with some old colleagues but nothing too serious.  Since leaving my job in the lab and starting an office job, I had started to put on weight and was feeling really unhealthy and lethargic, and was no longer regularly climbing, walking or running.  I thought to myself that this was my opportunity to make a change.  I decided that Kat would be my inspiration to get myself fit again and run a 5k race for life, in aid of Cancer Research.
I contacted my friends Sarah and Sui whom I had been running with before, and Sarah began meeting me for training runs after work.  We had set our sights on a santa fun run taking place in Marlow in a couple of months time, and were following one of the race for life training schedules.  I should point out that Sarah was already more than capable of running that distance but was happy to help me achieve my goal, for which I am still grateful - I don't think I would still be running if she hadn't kept me going in the early days!

It soon became clear just how unfit I was.  I couldn't even run for a few minutes and had to rely on an inhaler to help me.  I found it really tough going and contemplated giving up a few times, but Kat was my inspiration and I really wanted to do this for her.

And so it came to be that a few months later, somehow, I managed to run my first 5k race through Marlow, with Sarah, dressed as Santa.  As you do!
The plan then was to continue running and complete one of the official 5k race for life events the following year.

And with that, my life as a sort-of runner began!