My First Park Run.

Post-run.

This year, I'm determined to take part in a 10km run. I've been going to the gym three times a week to train, and I set myself the goal of running my first Park Run (which is 5km) by March 1st. 

Park Run is a weekly, free timed run. All you have to do is register and print off your bar code to get a time. Easy. 

So, Saturday, March 1st, up I got to go to my local Park Run.

I was terrified! It was the first time I'd ever ran in public, and it was my first race. I dragged a friend along with me for moral support.

I didn't realise how popular these Park Runs were - there were 400+ people at the one I attended last Saturday, from keen runners to beginners, kids, adults and dogs! At 9am, we made our way over to the start line and by 9.05am we were off! 

It was hard going, but I finished! I wanted to do it in under 45 minutes - for a first run, I thought that was a do-able time. Well, I actually did it in 40 minutes, so I was very happy, and I'm looking to go again this weekend (stupid?!)

Running outside instead of on the treadmill was great - fresh air, more to look at than when at the gym, and running with 400+ people means you've got a crap-ton of people supporting each other. But, as stupid as it sounds, I forgot to account for diabetes. When I run at the gym, there's a little shelf where you can put things, so for me, my blood test kit and glucose tabs. You don't have that when you run outside!

So, in the back pocket of my running trousers, I had my meter, finger-pricker and test strips. I don't usually take my insulin into the gym with me, but because of not taking a handbag with me, I decided that I would clip my insulin on to my trousers too, and throughout I just kept on making sure it was still there. Then, in the arm band, I kept an ID card, glucose tabs and my ipod (you can get more in those arm band things than I realised!) 

For a first run, I wanted to know I was safe, but hopefully with time I'll feel confident enough to run without packing as much "diabetes", if that makes sense?!

Halfway to the 10k!