{"id":5368,"date":"2020-03-30T11:03:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T11:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/?p=5368"},"modified":"2022-01-20T07:59:44","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T07:59:44","slug":"runner-feature-lillie-bleasdale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/runner-feature-lillie-bleasdale\/","title":{"rendered":"Runner Feature &#8211; Lillie Bleasdale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">&#65279;<\/script>The first time I ran a race, I swore I would never do it again.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Five years later<\/strong>, I&rsquo;m 4 marathons down, countless other races have been ticked off, and millions (<em>OK, it feels like millions!<\/em>) of miles have been run.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 600px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B0G28QEnrTb\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"12\">\n<div style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\"><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B0G28QEnrTb\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A post shared by LILLIE | Running &amp; Fitness (@lilliesfitness)<\/a> on <time style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;\" datetime=\"2019-07-19T17:44:16+00:00\">Jul 19, 2019 at 10:44am PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in <strong>2015 I ran a local 10k<\/strong> race to raise charity funds. I didn&rsquo;t train properly and I can safely say I crossed the line with the opinion I would never bother with it ever again.&nbsp; <strong>2017<\/strong> came round, and following the death of my Grandfather, my sister and I set out on a mission to raise some serious money for <strong>Cancer Research UK<\/strong> in his memory.&nbsp; After a lot of debate, we figured that running would be the most hilarious activity for us to tell our friends we were doing. Responses ranged from &ldquo;<em>Running? You two?!<\/em>&rdquo;, to genuine laughs, and a lot of people parting with their cash in return for tragic race photos of us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughout the year, we ran <strong>14 different 5\/10km races and half marathons<\/strong>, and raised just <strong>over &pound;4.000<\/strong> in the process. Somewhere along the way I well and truly caught the running bug, and signed up for my first ever marathon the year after; <strong>2018<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2018 was the year running truly changed my life&hellip;<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Living in <strong>London<\/strong>, I was lucky to have a wealth of races available on my doorstep &ndash; and this is how I was introduced to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.runthrough.co.uk\"><strong>RunThrough<\/strong><\/a>!&nbsp; As I plodded pavements racking up miles for my<a href=\"https:\/\/www.runthrough.co.uk\/half-marathons-uk\/liverpool\/\"><strong> Liverpool half marathon<\/strong><\/a> <strong>\/ Marathon<\/strong> training, I began using these events as part of my long runs in order to break up the miles and not be out there on my own. Soon enough I started seeing the same familiar faces, became addicted to the world&rsquo;s best flapjack (<em>not biased<\/em>), and found myself involved in a truly amazing community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having suffered from <strong>mental health issues<\/strong>, running became a real escape for me and I found the headspace it provided entirely refreshing. This new found <strong>confidence<\/strong> and belief in myself saw me wanting to <strong>challenge myself<\/strong> to achieve more, and train harder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With my first marathon ticked off, I set my sights on the <strong>Valencia Marathon<\/strong> at the end of <strong>2017<\/strong> and was delighted to run a <strong>big PB<\/strong>.&nbsp; Up next came <strong>London<\/strong> where I was over the moon to run a time which qualified me for the <strong>Boston Marathon 2020<\/strong>! Near the end of 2019, I ran the <strong>Berlin Marathon<\/strong> following a training cycle plagued with injury, and whilst it wasn&rsquo;t a PB, it was some of the most fun I&rsquo;ve ever had as I went out there with such a big group of friends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Post injury, my confidence was boosted back up with a solid training block seeing my first few races of <strong>2020<\/strong> being smashed out the park when the dreaded Covid-19 hit. Whilst the Boston Marathon has now been pushed to <strong>September<\/strong>, I&rsquo;m still continuing to train, looking to maintain fitness levels before hopefully heading into a 16 week training block in June. The culmination of this will be the <strong>Chicago Marathon, and Boston<\/strong> &ndash; just a few weeks before &ndash; now becomes less of a PB opportunity, and more of a chance to celebrate how far I&rsquo;ve come so far.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the last few weeks, being part of a community has been so important in remaining positive with everything going on. I urge you to say a hello to the person next to you on the start line of your next RunThrough race! Through all the friendships I have developed within such an amazing community over the last few years, I&rsquo;m now lucky enough to have the opportunity to not only continue running at RunThrough events, but also lead the occasional warm up from time to time too, and I can&rsquo;t wait to see all your lovely faces when we can be back on that start line together again!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5373\" src=\"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/68DE1D48-E877-470A-A3A6-40051421E67F.jpg\" alt=\"Runner Feature - Lillie Bleasdale RunThrough Running Club London\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/68DE1D48-E877-470A-A3A6-40051421E67F.jpg 555w, https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/68DE1D48-E877-470A-A3A6-40051421E67F-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" title=\"Runner Feature - Lillie Bleasdale RunThrough Running Club London\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5374\" src=\"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2BEBDE60-93CE-4E09-9467-9ADF61DE69BB-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Runner Feature - Lillie Bleasdale RunThrough Running Club London\" width=\"400\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2BEBDE60-93CE-4E09-9467-9ADF61DE69BB-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2BEBDE60-93CE-4E09-9467-9ADF61DE69BB-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2BEBDE60-93CE-4E09-9467-9ADF61DE69BB-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2BEBDE60-93CE-4E09-9467-9ADF61DE69BB-1080x1350.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" title=\"Runner Feature - Lillie Bleasdale RunThrough Running Club London\"><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first time I ran a race, I swore I would never do it again. Five years later, I&rsquo;m 4 marathons down, countless other races have been ticked off, and millions (OK, it feels like millions!) of miles have been run. &nbsp; &nbsp; View this post on Instagram &nbsp; A post shared by LILLIE | [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2955,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5368"}],"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\/2955"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5368"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6851,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5368\/revisions\/6851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}