testimonial Archives - Operation Move

Lots of people have asked me why I need to learn to run and why would I pay to do it? It’s a good question really, I mean don’t you just go out and run?

Well for some people it is that simple, but not for me.

I used to run in high school and loved it, but it dropped away as priority. In the last couple of years I had a few attempts at the C25k program, but it always stalled after a few weeks due to illness, work commitments or just general lack of motivation. I really wanted to get back into running and I wanted this time to be different so I was excited when I saw the Learn To Run program come up with Operation Move. Kate and Zoey were promising support, coaching and a group to do it with, it seemed exactly what I needed.

So on the 1^st June this year I joined the June Learn to Run group. I was pretty scared, not just about the running but about actually participating. I had been pretty happy hanging around the extremities of the Operation Move Community, watching everyone else, and absorbing it all but never joining in. I wasn’t really sure if I was ready to actually do anything.

What I found was amazing.

Kate and Zoey gave me a great running program but more importantly they were there whenever I had a question, they were there to give me a kick out the door if I needed it and they were there when things weren’t going so well with words of wisdom.

What I didn’t expect to get out of doing the LTR program was the amazing support from the other women in the group. We started off as strangers, but we shared the journey together, the ups and the downs. It was reassuring knowing that there were other women all at the same stage, all doing the same program. We shared our runs, supported each other during sickness and injury, checked in on each other when things weren’t going well and celebrated the achievements. These are women who I now call my friends. With the program finished we still pop into our private online group and check in. We are there to support each other through sickness, injury, crap runs and personal issues. Without them I would not still be running.

Now 5 months after starting I am running 5kms. That first 5km was awesome and there was a lot of happy dancing around the kitchen afterwards. I am feeling stronger both physically and mentally. I love what my body can do now and I love that running is part of who I am. You see the LTR program isn’t just a 10week program that ends, it’s a stepping stone. A chance to get your body moving, to teach your mind that it can achieve what you thought impossible and to making moving part of your life.

It is your turn!

If you’ve never believed you could run, if you haven’t known where to start, if you have started a C25K but never gotten past week 3, or if you just want the chance to learn and be supported in a safe, private online environment, then you might love the Operation Move Learn to Run program.

What are you waiting for?

I never thought I would be a runner. As a teenager I was the one who was involved in everything but. My Exercise Induced Asthma really held me back in terms of sports like cross-country.

As an adult and after three babies I never thought I would because I couldn’t sneeze without wetting myself, let alone run a couple of kilometres up the road.

After surgery and a lot of physio, I told my surgeon of my plans to keep moving: not giving up the Netball I loved and learning to run. She told me that it wasn’t a good idea. I had little core strength and my pelvic floor wouldn’t cope.

So again I gave up that idea. I started walking. Apparently I walk fast – as fast as some people run. I made it to the point that I wasn’t going to get any faster unless I started jogging a little. I gave it a go. February 2013 I could do a 1km time trial in 9.46mins. By June I had it down to 7.14mins. But I had to work on my core a little harder.

I also hit a wall with the fact that I couldn’t sustain any distance – I only wanted to be able to run 5km comfortably. My cardio fitness was non-existent and my head would get in the way.

So over Summer I let it go. I worked on my core in the pool A LOT. Played with my kids and within that year I had lost 15kgs. I really think that this started to help with my ability to start running again. My bottom did not make its own sound when it went up and down anymore (it still goes up and down!) I wasn’t trying to lug all that around.

But I was still struggling with motivation and my head getting in the way of my runs. So when Kate contacted me and told me about the Learn to Run course I knew I had to do it.

Now I am running twice a week (sometimes more), playing netball and golf. I’m smashing our runs for Week 8 of the program and even though I am a couple of weeks behind I’m am ticking off one goal at a time.

I am motivated, thanks to a small bunch of gorgeous women who are doing this with me. We have all had our triumphs; a few injuries to overcome and we have all slowly started putting our health and fitness first.

I should tell you up front that at first I hated the intervals. They were hard. I thought the 3 minute ones were going to kill me. Obviously I survived and I’m running 8-minute intervals at pretty much the same pace. Much more comfortably. In fact I can run a kilometre now at less that 5.45mins. I never thought that was possible!

I really think that the support of Kate and the Operation Move team has been so vital in helping me get in the right headspace. I also hope that I have been a small inspiration to the other women in our group because they have no idea how much they have pushed and inspired me.

I love that I am surprising and making myself proud every single time I am out there having a go. Why don’t you surprise yourself and check out the Operation Move courses today?

If you’d like to learn more about Annaleis’ life in the country, you can follow her blog; Teapots and Tractors.

You can find out more about learning to run with Operation Move and experience for yourself the care, friendship and support that has helped shape Annaleis journey too. Click here for more details.

Learn to Run – Suzi’s Story

My Learn to Run Journey – by Annaleis