At school I was a sporting duffer. I was always picked for the team last, I'd wake up in cold sweats at the thought of running* past the sewage works at Esholt and (despite my mostly genuine efforts) I always got an effort 3 in PE. Unable to turn a cartwheel on land or a somersault in the water, I eventually broke my PE teachers one by one - even they just stopped trying to make me succeed. I hated sport, particularly running, and could never imagine why anyone would do something so utterly horrendous unless they were being forced by a whistle-blowing maniac in a jogging suit. 

But how things change. My mid-20s and the start of middle-age spread beckoned and I decided to challenge myself to the unthinkable: running a 5km race. Blood, sweat and tears doesn't even start to describe the emotional and physical turmoil of levering myself from a pizza-eating position on the sofa into something resembling a 5km canter. But I did it. And I've done it again twice since.

The most recent race I ran was the most challenging as following pregnancy, childbirth and a subsequent year of eating biscuits, it took the most of my willpower and organisational abilities to train for anything other than an early night. But the absolute elation of crossing the finish line having run the whole course made me vow to sign up for something even bigger. And now I have.

When I received an email at work offering 30 free places on the Abbey Dash I knew I had to take the plunge. It is raising money for a cause which I am passionate about and which is only going to affect more and more of us due to our expanding and ageing population. And, more importantly, it's a flat course which hopefully will make me stronger if it doesn't kill me first.

So, are you going to sponsor this couch potato into running 10km? Go on, go on, go on, go on, ah, go on. If I make the £200 mark before the race I'll even dress in my Batfink costume on the day (for the race you understand, I'll put on normal clothes again afterwards).

 

*read as walking slowly and gossiping - OK, my efforts weren't always that great