My aunt died of cancer just over a year ago, and this was the stimulus for my mum to not only raise some money for cancer research, but also to try and improve her own health. She decided that she wanted to start running (my dad also orienteers every week), and so with my help, she started training to run this 5km.
She had not done any running for around 30 years, keeping relatively active playing badminton and swimming most weeks, but not really doing large amounts of exercise. She also has arthritis in several joints restricting some of her movement, so we started small, with her running twice a week up to about 10 - 15 minutes as she was able, then as she gradually improved, she started running more often and for longer, until recently when she has been able to run for almost an hour without stopping.
The goal was to complete the 5km in under 40 minutes, keeping moving the whole time. She actually did much better, getting around 35 minutes even in the warm and humid conditions.
Proud husband and son with (tired) newest Gristwood athlete
She was so enthused by the experience that she is already talking about her next (longer) race, and she even came orienteering today for the first time in many years!
2 comments:
Hey, met your folks in Japan, nice couple (even gave us a ride from Tsukude back to the faraway campsite once), so big ups to your mum for this achievement and all the best for many more...
Big well done to your mam - pass on my congrats to her :-)
Niamh
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