Celebrating Clare's 50th parkrun!

My running journey started in January 2018. I had been walking a lot up until then, as my ‘me time’. I remember clearly that it was January 1st, I was walking in Bourne Park and I bumped into a friend who was running as her first day of Red January. She explained what she was doing and I thought I quite fancied the idea of doing something each day to get through January. She said that I should run and to try parkrun; I wasn’t convinced, but it must have been a couple of weeks later that I turned up one Saturday morning at 9 o’clock at Christchurch Park. I really had not realised how addictive it would be, and never for a minute thought I would rather stay in on a Friday night because I was getting up early the next day for parkrun!

A friend then suggested that I join the I Can Run ladies and so my running journey really began. I can remember turning up on the first Tuesday night and feeling a little unsure as I really was no expert runner and didn’t know anyone else that was going to be there, but I really have never looked back. I now have a whole I Can Run and park run family! It’s great and the support is amazing.  

Unfortunately, a few months in, I developed plantar fasciitis in my feet and could not run for several months as it was so painful. I was gutted. I had found some ‘me’ time and was really enjoying it but could no longer do it. To fill the gap I started doing pilates which I think really helped.

A trip to Coes to get sorted with the correct trainers for me, and some help from Bridget Read, and a few months later I was back running again. I felt as if I had gone back to square one so started from the beginning.

I have learnt that I am never going to be super fast and I have started this journey a little late, but I know that it helps me. I can struggle sometimes when running and have been known to ask myself what the heck I think I am doing trying to run, but it’s that feeling of achievement afterwards which gives me a real feel-good factor.

I didn’t ever think that I would do any organised runs, but have done the Mo Run, Winter 10k in London, Twilight 5k, Henham Park 5k, Remembrance 5k and some of the Summer series. I had planned to do many more this year, but unfortunately they were cancelled either because of high winds or the current awful situation we are in.

Although I live in Ipswich I now class Felixstowe as my home venue parkrun. To reach the 50 milestone was amazing and to have my parkrun and I Can Run family around me that morning was immense. The feeling crossing the finish line was unbelievable! I can’t wait to get back to adding up the weeks to the 100 milestone.

I try to encourage others to run/Jeff as I honestly think that if I can, anyone can. With the I Can Run Tuesday night sessions it’s a real social group and everyone runs at their own speed. I now have made many friends, all with a common interest, and I feel blessed. For me it really helps my mental wellbeing, especially as I lost my dad last year and with the current stresses at the moment. Let’s hope that we are soon out of this situation so that we can get back to the social runs once again as I’m missing them so much. Thank goodness we can still share our runs through Facebook at the moment.

Stay safe/keep well/#icanstayactive