run a 10k<\/a> in January then one each month in 2017<\/strong>. We had run a few 5k park runs, but with little thought I agreed. My mother was in the last few weeks of life so my mind was elsewhere, my only thought was she is crazy but then again why not!<\/p>\nWe arrived at Brixton on 6th<\/sup> January 2017<\/strong> extremely early but immediately felt the buzz of excitement. We were very self- conscious as everyone looked so fit, we did feel like a fish out of water but we followed the instructions and finally the countdown began and we were off. I really don’t know how we completed the course including the long sleep hill at Brixton but we did and much quicker than the hour and a half we had set as our target. I cannot explain the pure joy of achievement<\/strong> that I felt when I crossed the finishing line. I couldn’t stop smiling for ages, the sense of deep satisfaction was really rather overwhelming.<\/p>\nWe continued our monthly 10k’s sometimes adding an extra run in the month. I completed my challenge in the snow at the Olympic Park<\/strong> at the beginning of December<\/strong>. This was by far the most fun I had had on a run, running in the ridiculously treacherous conditions in the snow but who cared. It was the first race I can honestly say I really enjoyed!<\/p>\nMy last race of the year was a 5k at the Lee Valley Velodrome<\/strong> and my twins joined me, although one pulled out the last minute due to illness. He came 6th<\/sup> in the race but was gutted it was 20 minutes ….. I wanted them to see why I put myself through such an effort each month and at the end one son described it perfectly – “you look so happy Mum<\/em>”<\/strong>.<\/p>\nSo why do I run, as every 10k is a physical challenge, one which I push myself each time…<\/em><\/p>\nAs a lady of a certain age I need to increase my physical fitness but for me it was to help also with my mental strength as I do have moments of “low” times. I seem to come alive outside and thrive in the competitive environment<\/strong>. I deal badly with crowds so avoid them at all cost, but once I start running the fear disappears. At the end of a race I am on cloud nine, so proud with the medal around my neck, able to conqueror my fears<\/em>!<\/p>\nWhat is my aim for 2018<\/strong>? Of course 1 will run one 10k a month maybe two<\/em>. I do need to work on my upper body and core strength as I look like a stuffed turkey when I run. I have set myself a target to run 1000k in a year<\/strong>. Matt, one of the co-founders, spoke to Elizabeth<\/strong> and myself once and asked if we did much training. We answered, no. However I do ride 20k a day to work<\/strong> and walk a dog for an hour a day which all certainly helps me on the endurance of a 10k, but I do need to run throughout the month so I can enjoy each run.<\/p>\nI have to thank RunThrough<\/strong> as they are an exceptional company, they have opened running to the masses. Anyone and anything goes. They have given me the confidence to take a step forward to enjoying life again. I love the competition the excitement the friendliness and encouragement. This year I really feel I can move forward and looking to moving out of London for a new beginning. Finally I need to thank Elizabeth<\/strong> for supporting me through out 2017 attending all the races and giving me the motivation to complete the major challenge!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My name is Catherine Altmeyer and 57 years ago I arrived in this world as a 3lbs baby born at home and began my fight for life. I joined two brothers and as a big sister two others followed. As a child I did struggle with shyness and this at times was so chronic I hid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":""},"categories":[54,16,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3856"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6746,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3856\/revisions\/6746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}