Steffanie Goalen

Less than 6 weeks to go

Monday 3rd Aug

The Great North Run is now less than 6 weeks away... which suddenly feels very real! 

The hotel is booked and I've booked the Monday off work for recovery, and training is well underway.

I'm now running three times a week, my longest run so far is 16.5km, and my long runs are up to 2 hours. It's safe to say I'm slowly becoming one of those people who talks about running far too much... sorry! 

I won't pretend I'm loving every minute of it, but I am enjoying it more than I expected. More importantly, I'm really proud of how far I've come.

On 2nd October, my very first run was 1 minute of running followed by 1½ minutes of walking, repeated six times.

I'm not doing this because I woke up one day wanting to run 13.1 miles. (I entered Daniel and me into the ballot whilst we were on holiday after a few wines, I got in and he didn’t, not sure that worked out like I expected!) 

Now, it’s about proving to myself that I can do something I never thought I would, and ticking off another slightly odd bucket list challenge. (Like when I did that  skydive from 15,000ft that Matt bought me because I apparently once said that it looked fun!)

While I'm doing it for myself, I thought it would be nice if the challenge could also help someone else. So I’ve set up a donations page for Parkinson's. I haven't shared my fundraising page much, but if you'd like to support the cause, I'd be incredibly grateful.

And if donating isn't your thing, I'll happily accept all the encouragement I can get over the next few weeks. I put enough pressure on myself as it is, but a bit more from everyone else can't hurt!

Share

Great North Run

Wednesday 20th May

I never expected to be running a half marathon… mostly because I don’t actually enjoy running.

But after entering the Great North Run ballot on a whim, I somehow managed to get a place — which is both exciting and deeply annoying. So now I have no choice but to actually train for and run 13.1 miles!

I’m doing it to raise money for Parkinson’s.

Any support, donations, or words of encouragement (especially when I’m questioning my life choices on training runs) would mean so much. Thank you ❤️

Share