Why did you start running?

I started running, or jogging shall we say, around 13 years old. But I wanted to start when I was about 11 years old, I never wanted to go to a club or race but just to run with my dad and know where the hell he was going. He would come home from work and put his trainers on in the kitchen and then head out...I used to watch him doing his laces up and ask if I could come, "No, your not big enough" and then I can't remember the exact moment but I started going on the bike when he ran, he would kill me anytime we got to a hill and I would cycle around the lanes with him.... sometimes venturing onto the prom with him.

His Sunday run was running to Swansea (around18/19miles) while me, mum and my brother would meet him there at the swimming pool and then all go in the pool. One day he suggested coming on the bike which I thought was a good idea, mum would stop a couple of times along the way with the car and any problems I would pop the car in the boot and go in the car. I think I moaned the whole way "are we there yet" as I cycled on roads I never knew existed. I remember the car passing us on route and my big brother just waving at me, I decided to carry on and dog it out..."I can do this!". By the time I got there I was knackered but managed to find some energy for the slides.

Then I would always go with him to the track to watch the group and some of the guys he coached, I would stand by the side of the track with him looking at the watch seeing the group of men fly around the track working really hard. I would also go to races and see the guys winning races but also knew the hard work behind it. My own training slowly moved from the bike to doing his short easy runs with him and as he was coming to the end of his running days his long runs went down to 6 or 8miles I was then old enough to do them around sand dunes or up to the kenfig river which seemed to go on for ever!

At the track I would do some training with the girls group rather than watch the guys.....hanging on for my life! And Dad switched to the bike while I was running. I remember doing my first tempo runs around 1.5miles and would take me about 15minutes. My first race was then a little junior race where my dad was doing some 10k, I came 2^nd out of about 5 children, I got out sprinted back then as well.

Then I was doing xcountry races because that was what people seemed to do, I wasn't really that interested in the racing to be honest but that seemed to be the thing to do but I just wanted to run. Over the years sometimes you forget why you started with planned weeks and certain sessions, it can quite quickly become a real chore if you don't' get the right balance. Lucky at the moment I am really enjoying it again after a year or so really starting to get bogged down by having to run certain times and racing all over the place to try and go a few seconds faster.

Monday morning I was given a 4mile 'amble' which I took as a walking pace run. I went over the dunes in the frost with the cows and even stopped at a little pond to throw a few stones across the water, while keeping my eye on the massive bull!

So that's why I started, just to run....so basically I blame dad!