That was inspiring , Runningfox! I guess running is one the few sports where age is just a number

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Same here - but bizzarely, the only thing I was good at was running, on the two occassions the actually did it during PE class in secondary school. The rest of the time it was football, hockey, rounders and basketball. I think the only reason I did not too bad at it was because every else sprinted from the start and I was running at a steady pace (probably the right thing to do, but I didn't realise it at the time).

I hated all of it because it was hard work. I didn't actually take up running until I was 27. Even though I had been going to the gym, I knew I wouldn't be able to do a 10k. So I built up to being able to do a 5km first, then joined a running club to train for the 10k.

I hated running at school.

I was really fat and I was not happy at all.

I was on holiday in 2000 and I was 15 years old, i remember really wanting a girlfriend but was upset that no one liked me. (Typical sulky selfish teen)

My mum said that girls like athletic guys, which was maybe a weird thing to say.
and I asked how I could go about being athletic, and she said join an athletics club.

So when I came back from Holiday I joined one, I looked out of place for a while there and my legs ached for a week after my first 2 mile warm up run.

I joined in september 2000 and by Xmas I had lost 4 stone.

That was a while ago, but I think thats one of the best things I have ever done.
My confidence grew no end and I enjoyed most of my late teens as a direct result.


At 23 I am not much better of as a runner but I enjoy it more now than I did then.
Im gonna throw myself into running next year with my first half marathon, the longest distance I will have ever faced.

I was never the fat kid in class (I was, if anything, the thinest kid) but I was never any good in any sports.
But when the "long distance" runs came and everybody hated them I felt at home

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If you and a friend are in the forest and a bear appears, try to run faster than the bear! But at least run faster than your friend...

is it narcissistic to say I was one of the annoying guys at school who was good at everything sporty?

Problem was the only way things could go was downwards

Have always run everywhere and normally ran for the school but never actually trained, just kept fit by playing all types of sport. Didn't take it up properly until uni in 2000, where I ran 17 odd mins for 5km and 93 mins for the half.
28 now and this year have clocked 14.58 5km and 71.15 half marathon so still improving, as long as I keep enjoying it I'll carry on....

I started running when I was about 15 and a couple of years later has some national success on the track over 800/1500. Immediatley after than I gave up running and found drink, fags and women, sorry that should read University. Decided to kick the unhealthy lifestyle into touch about 2.5 years ago (aged 32) and started jogging again, mainly to take my mind of my 20 ciggies a day habit and attempt to shift the three and half stones I have accumulated over the previous 15 years!

I have steadily improved from a 42:15 10k in May 05 to a 34:17 a few weeks ago, and had a go at my first marathon this year in New York where I posted 2:47:10. Won't run a marathon until 2009 probably and going to concentrate on the shorter distances for next year where I am hoping to get close to 33 mins for 10k and 74 mins for the half marathon.

At 50 years old it may be difficult to beat your 10k pb from when you were 25, but I definitely think it is possible to beat your age band bests. Having said that I know people who are running faster in their 40's then in the 30's and are closing in on their all time PB's. What they have done is changed the way they train, lots more x-training and less running!!

I started in my late teens; i was another unfit fat kid at school

What I generally did was get into running for a few months, build up some fitness, then maybe run a marathon, then lose interest or go travelling and generally head back to square one. Now I'm a bit more settled, and I keep my running going between marathons, which is starting to show promise and I hope to get better in the next couple of years. I'm really not a natural athlete, and I don't think I will ever be world-class, but I love my running, and I'm keen to see how far I can go with this

I think the health benefits, for me, are immense; with fairly serious running I have much more energy and enthusiasm, and am stronger both physically and mentally

I picked up running in my early teens and captained the x-country and athletics teams at one point or another. I had a love/hate relationship with x-country at the time and I've not done it for years now!

When I last timed myself I was still about 2 seconds behind an 800m PB I set at 15 years old lol - oh dear! But I did used to train 5 days a week back then and hard; now I tend to run 3 times a week if I can. Once I'm up to a decent level of fitness I'm sure I'll beat that record ha ha :-)

As far as long distance is concerned, I've really not done enough yet even to start challenging my own times, but that will come I suppose!

I've recently taken up running at the age of 24, although i used to do very well at athletics in school especially in x-country. Unfortunately I never gave athletics much attention as i was more into football, so i concentrated on that!

I've ran a couple of 5k races during the summer and enjoyed the experience, so much so that i've decided to devote more time to training and i'm now planning my races for 2008!

Started when I was 29 when my weight went up to 14.5st through drinking too much, eating too much and driving everywhere. I initially went to the swimming pool one day in an attempt to start a fitness regime and the locker attendant asked if I'd had a good swim to which I replied that I was trying to 'get rid of this', as I patted my little flourishing pot belly. He said that running would shift it quicker than swimming so I went back to the drawing board. I decided to have a go at running and my distances went from a few hundred metres on the first day to around about 12 miles within a year or so. Naturally, the weight dropped off me as the distances increased and I found myself down to 11.5st two years later and that's probably my main motivation I would say. I'm still fitting comfy in a size 32 waist 8 years later! Incidentally, I still probably eat as much as I did (I ate a 12" pizza and a 10" garlic bread by myself the other night), I love to eat but I now view it as fuel for energy. I'm not overly fussed in general about finishing times as the greatest reward is always the good health that you gain from it, although it is nice to improve and get fitter. I'd like to think I'll keep on top of it for the future and enter more races and so on. I've never ran with a club or anything like that, always just on my own and I think it suits me that way. The only thing I have noticed recently is I seem more prone to injuries either as a result of getting older or maybe it's during the periods where I'm trying to do a bit more for a race which I only started doing this year. Either way, I still enjoy it when it's going well.

Just for you RF- have changed avatar back to more positive one

Ta for the link to core exercises. Have also started doing yoga to improve this so hopefully 2008 will be a trouble free year of running.

Boab!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a running-life story!
I am with you.
Lets us know about your progress!
If you want to have a BIG, serious attempt at your Marathon PB in 2009, let me know where and when you are planning to run it... I might be interested in joining.

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If you and a friend are in the forest and a bear appears, try to run faster than the bear! But at least run faster than your friend...

20-30 ie Now

Never really liked sports at school, except for some reason Hockey.

Went to a local boxing gym for many years, wasn't really a natural at that but with hard work became quite good. Main assets being determination and strength rather then atheletic prowess.
Used to 'jog' rarely to supplement training.
Jogging around the park near my house which is 570metres, 10 times being about 3.5miles in about 30mins, pretty slow according to my calculations. Went off to uni completely stopped boxing and any aerobic exercise. Spent a few years lifting weights with quite a lot of gains though thats a whole different story.

Now several years of little or no exercise started to run on the same track as back then. Having a few difficulties since got lower back problems just researching into that before proceeding further. Recently worked out I over-pronate somewhat to say the least.
So a few hurdles to overcome to become a real runningman.

I only started distance running properly in mid 2006, when I was 31. At that time I had just lost 5 stone in weight (I had put all the weight on in graduate school) through cycling and wanted some variety in my exercise. I hated running at first, but slowly got used to it and now running is my main form of exercise. As a teenager I was pretty slim and good at most sports, but hated middle and long distance running. I was a good sprinter and field athlete though. Now I'm really into the distance running. Part of me wants to clock a 100m sprint and see if I can come close to the times I ran as a teenager (around 12 seconds). I know my endurance is a lot better now, but not sure about basic speed.