Fit Fabulous Four Oh

We've had PilgrimCeleste and now we have...drumroll... RunningCeleste as I embark on my first ever half marathon.

This blog is more for me really, to record my trials and tribulations of getting back into running, and heading towards my goal of fit fabulous four oh.

So one of my big aims for the big Four Oh was to get fit.  I remember in my early 30s sitting in a class, the teacher (who I really admired) came in and told us she had just turned 40, she was fit happy and healthy, and just glowed.  I remember thinking I want to be like her when I grow up/turn 40.  She was a runner, I can’t remember exactly how I knew this (she must have told us some story about running something ) but since that time I’ve come to equate being fit at 40 with running. 

Last year at my fittest (and lowest weight ever) I really got into running, and was loving it, I was training for a 10km, with a half marathon in mind just beyond that.  I loved the runners high, I loved the feeling that my running was getting better each week, I loved the achy legs the next day, and inside I felt a bit smug that I was ‘fit’.  I even really enjoyed the 10km I did.  But after that I got lazy, went back to my old lazy ways, and piled on the weight; and I find myself this year having to fight to get back into ‘it’.  What’s more annoying is after three years of applying to the Royal Parks Half Marathon ballot (and not getting into it) this year I got a very very surprising ‘congratulations your in’ email (aghhh because this year I wasn’t really that bothered about doing it). 

My training has been very very slack, I kept telling myself as long as I was up and running by May I’d be ok (and could get back on track on the same schedule I was on last year).  But May came and went with a few piddly runs, that to be honest knocked my confidence a bit. 

I think as well in the back of my head I kept thinking I can just defer, but then two weeks ago I read the rules like a good girl and… no deferral.  So I’m committed, but you know what, it’s a good thing, it means I’m forced into getting fit for 40, and who knows maybe forty might just turn out to be my marathon year.