Felixstowe runner Kirsty fills us in on how she started running with I Can Run and baked goods by the sea, mmmmm...

I have never been the ‘sporty type’. I hated cross country with a passion at school and only did the 100m sprint on sports day because it was over with the quickest! As an adult I’ve done a variety of dance classes but no sport, so no one was more surprised than me that I joined ICR!

After a difficult couple of years, in February 2019 I decided I needed to get off the sofa and get active. Maybe it was fate then that I saw a Facebook post for the ICR beginners course starting in Ipswich the following Tuesday. I have no idea to this day what made me sign up, but I did, and even more of a surprise...I turned up! On my own, on a cold February evening, I met Kristy, a run leader, who made me feel instantly at ease. That one evening I was converted. I felt good about myself...I'd run, and no one cared what I looked like or how fast I was. 

Jeffing was a real surprise to me and I liked it a lot. Four weeks in I felt confident enough to take myself to Felixstowe parkrun; there may have been more walking than running, but I completed it! I met some of the Felixstowe ICR ladies and they were so friendly and supportive, everyone was there for the same reason.

After completing the beginners course, I signed up to the spring 5K in Christchurch Park. I ran with another beginner. It was tough (that hill!) but the support and encouragement from all the ICR ladies was amazing - I got my first 5K medal!

My new-found confidence was knocked at my next event; I cried, I pulled out halfway round, I felt defeated and annoyed with myself, but it was Kristy and a group of wonderful ICR ladies at the top of that hill that made me realise not every run is going to be good - sometimes they just need to go in that bucket! 

I attend the ICR free runs; I love them, they give me the motivation to get out midweek and I've met some real friends through them. During lockdown ICR has been a huge support to me. I am a health and social care trainer but it was all hands on deck and a case of ‘do what is needed’ over the last few months. It was tough at times. I live on my own, I dislike video calls and I’'m not much of a talker so I was an emotional wreck at times! It was seeing the posts on the ICR Facebook page about virtual runs and medals that inspired me to keep getting out to jeff...and if I wasn't feeling that, to walk. I found some lovely scenic routes near my home that I never would have known about before. The very honest posts from some of you lovely ladies also made me realise I wasn’t on my own.

Pre-lockdown, a few of us had met up to run together and kept in touch through lockdown; most of us had been regulars at Felixstowe parkrun and missed running by the sea. The news in early June that we could socially distance meet in groups of six led to some of us getting up early and meeting at Felixstowe at 7am one Saturday morning for a run. We ran an out and back, 5K, at our own pace and followed it with a chat and photo evidence. Just being out with these ladies and knowing they were there gave me such a boost. Running on my own I give up too easily; being out with others makes me push myself. We decided we’d be back the next week, early again while not too many people were around, but we’d bring a flask and stop for a chat on the beach. By week three we’d encouraged another runner up and out early...and she brought baked goods (these early runs were getting better!).

So the sociable socially distanced prom run became a thing and it’s now a weekly event. Meeting this fab group of ladies on a Saturday morning gives me motivation to keep going; I didn’t realise until we started how much I’d really missed being around other like-minded people - to be able to run, to chat, to laugh.

I Jeff. I will never be a constant runner (that’s probably what’s put me off in the past). Sometimes I go out and feel good, others I wonder what I’m doing, but ICR has taught me that’s OK. Sometimes just putting on my trainers and getting out the door is an achievement!