I’m not a natural runner. Before Autumn 2017 I hadn’t run since the ‘beep test’ at school, and I’m sure we all remember what torture that was!

Running doesn’t come easily to everyone and it’s not something I ever thought I would enjoy.

I started out where a lot of newbie runners begin, using the Couch to 5k app on my phone, being guided by the motivating voice of Jo Whiley. I was soon progressing from jogging for one minute at a time, to two minutes, three minutes, and so forth.

The app is great in helping you progress at a steady rate so that you don’t risk injury or completely tiring yourself out and never wanting to do it again. I remember the great feeling I had when I ran for 15 minutes without stopping. This may be nothing to seasoned runners, but it was probably the longest I had ever run.

The programme was going great and I managed to reach week seven out of nine, running for 25 minutes non-stop, before I was struck down with a horrible cold. Then came Christmas and I never really got back into the programme until my second attempt in Autumn 2018, which lasted a mere two weeks!

Motivation, or lack of, was a big factor in getting back into running. I had hit a mental block with all physical exercise and with Winter approaching, I just didn’t want to do anything. Reading and knitting (yes, I’m a granny!) were both far more appealing on cold, wet, windy evenings.

We’d had several discussions over the Christmas period about activities we could do throughout our 10^th Anniversary year, including fundraising for local charities. I decided I would challenge myself to running 10k at the Cheltenham Challenge, as I knew several people who had run it in previous years.

My furthest distance to date had been 4.5k, but I was back at the beginning in the New Year. The test I set myself to confirm whether I would do the challenge was that if I could run 500m without stopping, I would do it. And I did, so here I am training for the Cheltenham Challenge on Sunday 16th June, which starts at Cheltenham Racecourse.

Over the next few weeks, I kept adding 500m to how far I would run in each session, focussing on distance as opposed to time. I soon got to 3k and felt confident that by the middle of June I would breeze through 10k.

Of course, life and training isn’t that simple – in February I was wiped out again by a 2-week cold, which set my training back quite a bit. In one recent run I was even on the brink of tears because I thought I’d never be able to complete 5k, let alone 10k.

Luckily, my next run was much better so I’m feeling more positive about the challenge now.

So, what is it that is helping me get through the training this time?

Firstly, I’m aiming to raise lots of money for our Charity of the Year, Cobalt. They do incredible work to support patients with cancer, dementia and other conditions, and invest in equipment, research and education to help ensure everyone has access to the best medical imaging for their diagnosis.

They are thrilled to be working with us throughout the next 12 months, so I want to do as much as I can to raise awareness of and money for their vital work.

Secondly, when I asked my boyfriend if he would run the 10k with me, his response was: “Yeh, 10k is easy”. I was quick to remind him that it isn’t for everyone, including me, so I want to prove that I can do it.

He has been supportive though by training with me on a couple of occasions, and he sends me messages of encouragement when he knows I’m heading out for a run.

I think having a running buddy is a great idea, as they can hold you accountable when you’ve arranged a training session, but they also spur you on to keep going when you want to stop.

So that’s my progress so far. I’ll post some updates as we get closer to the day and hopefully training will continue going well.

If you’d like to donate to our fundraising efforts for Cobalt, please visit our Virgin Money Giving page and give what you can. I’d love to raise as much money as possible through the Cheltenham Challenge so that Cobalt can continue their amazing work of helping the Gloucestershire community and beyond.

You can read more about our 10^th Anniversary year here and for more information about Cobalt and the work they do, please visit their website.