So here goes. I’m Teresa McCarthy, and I’m delighted that Pop Up Races has seen fit to let me loose on their new blogging forum.
I’m (thankfully) working full-time, am still happily married to my first husband and am blessed to be mother to 3 children. I run 2 or 3 times a week, and I very much run for my physical and mental fitness, and for fun. Running is my stress-buster.
My running (very much stretching the definition here) began 3 years ago with a Couch to 5k approach, which I did on my own. I was already in my 50s and needed to improve my general fitness and try to stem the middle age spread which was ominously lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce. As soon as I got to the 5k mark, I entered my first race, a local 5k for charity. I finished second last, and was in serious danger of having the finish line taken away before I got to it. But I finished it. Since then, I’ve run about one hundred organised 5ks (between races and parkruns). I’ve also run four 10ks, four 5 milers and even managed to complete 2 half marathons (my daughter is doing fractions in school and insists that 2 halves make a whole – if only it were that easy!).
Now, just so you understand the level of athlete you’re dealing with here, I want it known that I usually finish in the top 5 in my runs and races, just as long as you start counting from the back of the field. I’ve been last on more than one occasion, but I don’t embarrass easily and prefer to be last than stay on the couch. Cutting what could be a very long story short, (the longer version is for another day – there’s something to look forward to) I’ve decided that distances over 10k are not for me. I run 5ks, 5 milers and the odd 10k, just to keep challenging myself. Every weekend I’ll run a race or parkrun, sometimes doing both.
I’m delighted to talk about running, and hope that some of you will find that, if Teresa McCarthy can run, anyone can, and there’s so much to be gained from getting out there and putting one foot in front of the other.
’Til next time,
Teresa McCarthy, 50+ Fit4Lifer.
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