Hi everyone!
My name is Jo, and I’m a 30-something year old mum of three children aged 7 and under, and I love chocolate and running equally!
After having baby number 2 I started running to try and lose a bit of weight and get fit again. I decided to challenge myself and signed up to my local half marathon. After lots of training on my own and occasionally with the toddler in a pushchair I completed the half marathon in 2hours 24minutes. This led to me running the same race the year later, but then having to reluctantly miss the third year due to baby number 3 being due to arrive.
Once baby number 3 was born I started running after 12 weeks, mainly because it’s the only time I get to myself! I also joined a new local mums running group and signed up to a load of races to keep me going. This year so far I’ve run four 10ks, with another one coming up, I’ve got two half marathons coming up and two trail running races which I’m excited about because trail running is completely new to me!
I’ve always known that I would like to run a full marathon. It’s on my ‘before I turn 40’ bucket list. A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to be offered a charity place for VLM2020. I’m going to be running for a charity called APEC - Action on Pre-Eclampsia. This is a condition close to our hearts so I’m really pleased to be able to run and raise money for them. It was at this point I knew I needed help training for a full marathon so that I can take it seriously and do it justice.
So I joined Team NewEra and Callum has set up a great plan for me factoring in family life and working full time. There’s times I have to swap my training days around, and times I have company in the running buggy, but my plan is achievable. And on the days I can’t get out for a run for any reason then Callum has given me workouts to follow at home instead. Most of my runs are done early morning when I have the baby for company and everyone else is asleep, or evening time when 2 of the 3 children are asleep.
Since following my training plan I’ve been concentrating a lot on pace. I’m definitely one of those people who shoot off and then regret it a bit later when I’m gasping for air! I asked Callum for advice with regards to pace and he kindly went through my plan and added paces I should be running at depending on what type of run I’m doing. I’m finding this really helpful and can now run a full run instead of the run/walk I had previously been doing! I’m really looking forward to seeing how my plan changes me and prepares me for my goal of the VLM2020.