This girl runs - #MondayMotivation #ActiveLockleaze
Monday Motivation #ActiveLockleaze Project Spotlight On
As part of our partnership project #ActiveLockleaze we like to feature regular posts for our Monday Motivation or Spotlight On section.
This is just one of the ways we promote physical activities and sports opportunities in Lockleaze. By sharing providers and participants' personal stories we aim to inspire and motivate and encourage all residents to lead more active lives.
This week we focus on our CEO Suzanne Wilson who did the Bristol 10K
Back in February I was invited to take part in Love Running a charity that gets people to run the Bristol 10k together to raise money for Bristol causes (half the money goes to - including homeless, food bank and supporting women affected by the sex industry) and the International Justice Mission (the largest anti-slavery charity in the world). You can watch more about it here:
I have run a 10k before but 5 years ago when I was fitter, younger and slimmer, pre-pandemic before my asthma got worse and I felt I couldn’t run anymore. I both wanted to do it and also felt a bit unsure if I could. Looking at our Wellbeing Passport I was reminded that we have stories and self-limiting beliefs that stop us doing exercise and that I could make the time if I planned, and I needed to trust the training process (even though I can’t run a 10k now if I keep up practice for 14 weeks I will be able to by the end of it) and also there was things that I could do to keep me going:
Get a gang - a group of older women all committed to doing the run and encouraged each other on whatsapp. Towards the end of our training we met and ran together at different parkruns. This group was such an encouragement to it each other.
Make a plan - I know that I’m busy and get distracted so I need to make a plan if I want something to happen. There are lots of training plans online and I loved using the Nike Run Club app - it was so motivational, it talked me through runs, managed my stats and progress and gave me a guided plan which had enough flexibility to fit round my life. The best way to make sure I did the necessary amount of running was to put it in my calendar - that’s how I know what I am supposed to be doing when - if it works for life/ parties - it can work for fitness too.
Goals and motivation - my goal was to run the 10k and raise money for charity, my motivation was both to raise money for charity but also to get fitter, and therefore when I was struggling to get up in the morning to go running I could think about either - people have sponsored me so I have to do this, or to think about how much fitter I was getting and how important that was for my future. Also I told my family that I planned to run, so when I didn’t leap out of bed they would prompt - kindly and gently - to get going.
Be kind to yourself - after a plan, this was the most important one. We’re so hard on ourselves, I was so much slower than 5 years ago and started to get negative with myself about being sooooo slow. But had to remind myself my motivation wasn’t to run faster than my last 10k - it was to be able to run one again! Also when I had a cold and didn’t run for a week, not to get down on myself about training but congratulate myself on taking care of myself and not catastrophising about my training plan and just keep going. Also to be the best coach to myself - congratulating myself every step of the way, celebrating each small wins (eg. I got out when it was raining, I did my first speed run, I did my first 5k, I kept going when I wanted to give up etc).
I was super chuffed. I completed the 10k on 19th May. I was not the fastest by a long shot, and there was a moment when the ladies I trained with, some 10 - 20 yrs older than me, were faster, that I almost let the comparison trap rob me of some of my joy. But then - after a stern talking to myself - shared their joy of being absolutely badass amazing women - and congratulated myself on not only running the race and completing it, being part of a group of people that raised over +£65,000 for amazing charities that bring hope to the most vulnerable, and also my times across the different splits were really consistent because I had trained well and established a pace that I could maintain for the whole 10k.
Worried you missed the chance to sponsor me? Don’t worry you can sponsor me here
Finally on women. There are real concerns about women and girls and physical activity, by secondary school the gap between boys and girls is already opening up and it just keeps getting wider, with boobs, periods, perception of attractiveness and body confidence amongst the reasons why girls stop being active. So it was important for me to be more active, to role model that for my daughter and also to recognise the value of physical activity on my mental health and wellbeing (even if I am slow and look red faced) and find a way to celebrate it.
“The gender gap in enjoyment of school PE is much more pronounced and has widened since 2016. The proportion of girls saying they enjoy PE has fallen (from 74% in 2016 to 63% in 2023), while boys’ enjoyment has remained stable at 86%. The “enjoyment gap” is most stark at Key Stage 4 (KS4), encompassing Years 10 and 11 of secondary school, when children are aged 14 to 16 years. The 2022–23 figures fell to 59% of girls in this age group enjoying PE, compared to 84% of boys”
Around a third of women aged 41 to 60 years are not getting the amount of physical exercise recommended by the Chief Medical Officer. We know that exercise is particularly important for this group, with substantial physical and mental wellbeing benefits. However, women in midlife and beyond face a number of specific barriers to participation, including perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms, gendered caring responsibilities for children and elderly relatives, and the time pressures of work when many women are at the peak of their careers. Women in Sport’s research has found that women in midlife and beyond “feel largely ignored, invisible and irrelevant, and this is particularly true when it comes to sport and exercise.”
Taken from Health barriers for womens and girls in sport
So my advice if you are thinking about it - have a go. Get some mates, help each other to set a target eg. race for life, park run or just running for 30 mins and then go out and run/walk minute by minute until you can do it. You feel loads better for it and it helps as much with mental health as physical health, and you never know, you might just be a runner.
