Today’s Ruby Assembly blog focuses on our participation in Run Melbourne and our journey from non-runner to someone who looks forward to their runner’s high a few times a week.

I think I started running because of my husband’s love of hitting the pavement. He’s a devoted Runner’s World website addict with a Garmin GPS tracker, and I guess that hearing about running regularly must have inspired me (albeit latently). I used to play basketball 6 days a week when I was a teenager, but since having joined the adult world I have had no dedicated, regular physical activity time. So one day I thought to myself ‘Gee. I’d really like some breakfast on Domain Road, so I’ll run 1k or so around the Tan and then walk to the Botanical.’ I think it was my love of breakfast that really got me running. Before I knew it, I was running 2ks – and then 3ks. I was tracking my progress on NikeRun like a junkie. Then I discovered the world of cuteness that Lorna Jane and it was all over. However, I found that I hit a running plateau- at 3.5 kilometres I felt like I’d had enough. Being competitive, I decided that this simply wasn’t good enough and that I needed extra motivation to learn to extend my running. So I popped on the Run Melbourne website and signed myself up for a 5k run. It took me a month of running regular 5ks to get me to the stage where I’m no longer intimidated by the length of the run, and I can proudly say that yesterday I ran 5ks in 32 minutes, placing1067th in my age category. I also raised money for my our corporate charity, Fitted for Work. I’m very proud that I now consider myself a capable runner, and quite frankly I can’t believe I did it. It’s the small things, people. The small things. Here’s a photo diary of my day at Run Melbourne.

 

Waiting nervously at home, ready to make sure that my timer is securely attached to my sneakers and that my bib number won’t fall off.

We did a warm up to Robbie Williams at Federation Square before heading down to Linlithgow Avenue to await the starting gun. I went in the 30-36 minute group, which was chockers. You could run or walk the course, which extended to Anderson Street, went over the bridge and headed to Birrarung Marr.

Post run and Gatorade swig, nothing tastes as sweet as victory’s medal!

Thankyou to everyone who has supported my fundraising for Fitted for Work, and I look forward to running with you soon!