So long, farewell...

I have decided to take a big step and say a fond farewell to the treadmill.

My father's treadmill has been good to me, we've had our ups and downs, but I think the time has come for me to move on and forge a relationship with the outside world.

Treadmill running has been a great way for me to get my fitness up a little, and more importantly to give me the confidence I need to get out and face the prospect of being seen running like a loon by other human beings.

For those of you that know the American sitcom, Friends - imagine Phoebe running (you know the one!), multiply that by five and you'll be getting somewhat closer to understanding how I look whilst training.

I am not the most graceful person you'll ever meet. I have a tendency to walk into things, fall over my own feet, or indeed ride my bicycle into the Gloucester Sharpness canal (yes, it's true). I have self diagnosed this affliction as dyspraxia, however, most would condemn me as unbelievably clumsy.

In my opinion, running on a treadmill requires a great deal of balance and the need to get into a rhythm. I have, on occasions managed to combine balance with rhythm, but it most certainly does not come easily to me. Losing either one of these through lack of concentration, or my dyspraxia (!) leads to injury.

For those of you that are unaware, treadmill injuries can be rather serious, and friction burns on your chin, forearms, knees and hip take a while to heal. This is a lesson I am embarrassed to say I have learnt through experience. I can confirm the below video is not me, but it is a rather accurate representation of just one of my painful treadmill related incidents.

And so, my treadmill fling is officially over and I am in search of a more serious and long lasting love affair with the great outdoors.

A plea for help...

It's 6.15pm on a Thursday evening and I am typing on my Mac with a cafetière of vanilla coffee brewing (smelling truly delicious) and a four pack of Flakes. This is not how my Thursday evening was supposed to be - I should be on the treadmill sweating out the minutes until I can hop off knowing that I've done a reasonably good job at continuing with my training. 

This is a problem I am continually having. I am a person of routine and if my routine alters, even a tad, I am in all sorts of trouble. 

Working 9 to 5 means that I am lucky enough to have plenty of time to go straight from work to my Dad's gym and be home by 6.30pm - giving me time to shower, have a cuppa and cook dinner ready to eat at the strict time of 8pm. 

Yet today, I made the terrible mistake of making a detour to Blockbuster. This detour lost me 45 minutes and has left me with five terrible DVD's I need to watch in the next 7 nights, four flakes that must be consumed in the same amount of time and minus one much-needed run.


I can find something that 'needs' to be done pretty much most evenings if it means I can get out of going for a run. I have even resorted to blaming the weather, which would be fine if I was running outdoors, but I'm not! 

I'm running in my Dad's homemade gym in his garage, which I hasten to add has a heater for days when it's freezing, a fan for days when it's boiling, is completely water tight and even includes a gigantic HD TV with surround sound, DVD player and a load of other stuff I don't know how to use, so frankly, weather complaints are not an option. 

To solve this problem I have come up with an ingeniously original idea to create a 'training plan'. This is possibly something my colleague Jan Ryder has been attempting to get me to do for a while now. Her subtle hints of emails with links to great training websites, countdowns until race day and those 'suggested' training plans she's accidentally left on my desk seem to have gone over my head. 


I think it's about time I started to take some advice, create a plan, and most importantly stick to it. 


So, I'm going to make a plea for help. At the bottom of this page is a comments box, I'd be hugely grateful if you could provide me with advice. Advice not only on how often, how hard, how far and how quickly I should be running, but also how to stay motivated, how to add running into part of my weekly routine and more importantly how to ensure I don't put off training for a night in with pizza, trashy DVD's and a disgustingly obscene amount of chocolate. 

I can, and I will...

A couple of months ago I accidentally agreed to run the Stroud half marathon in October, and today I accidentally agreed to write about it, hence this blog!


This story begins about two months ago when my colleague at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Jan Ryder decided it would be a great idea to get a bunch of people to run the Stroud half marathon and raise funds for the Trust at the same time. My mouth generally seems to react faster than my head, and this was a classic example of me getting myself into yet another kerfuffle of a situation. 


Once my head had caught up with the fact that I had 6 months to train to run thirteen miles I thought "how hard can it be?!" Ten runs, two months, and one treadmill related incident later I can run about two miles without feeling the need to curl into a ball and die. I have today decided that running thirteen miles is going to be harder than I had originally anticipated, and that I am no longer in a position to be able to wriggle my way out of it. 


So, in a Gladiator style, Russell Crowe-esque manner "today is the day I, Alice Elizabeth Paling will avenge all those who hold little belief in my ability to run thirteen miles. I can, and I will...WATCH ME!"

P.S. I shall divulge upon the treadmill related incident another time - the story deserves a post of its own!