Born to run?

There are many good reasons to run. You don't always have to say no to pudding for a start, although once you really get the running bug good nutrition and a healthy diet follow naturally. It's difficult to stay fat once you're doing half marathon training..

Then, of course, there is the Setting a Good Example to the Children thing. As a writer I've always been told to 'show, don't tell' and this seems to apply to children too. My daughters see me running, getting medals and, most important of all in their eyes, getting a goodie bag, so they think running is a good thing to do.

They see me enjoying myself too, getting out and about in sun, sleet and snow. If I'll go in the worst of weather, it's got to be good. They tell me they practice their running 'like mummy' at school in the playground and they do laps of the sports field. Last year H8 did her first cross country race and R6 won a certificate for running at the Urdd sports (unlike mummy she actually gets into the first three of her races!)

They wanted to come running with me but I worried they were too young to run on the road. I thought of their little bones, still soft and being formed. Would pounding on a road stunt their growth? Then I looked at my skyscraper children (I wish I had a pound for every 'gosh they're so tall' comment) and decided a bit of growth stunting would be no bad thing. Brian used to be a seriously fast runner too. Used to be? Who am I kidding! He's 48 but he makes a point of being at the front of the Dad's race on school sports day every year. He doesn't do any training, ever, but he can outrun me easily over 5k and 10k. In fact he's annoyingly good as a runner.

So we went for a run, me and my girls. Half a mile to the village, half a mile back. A slow, steady trot on our quiet rural virtually traffic-free lane. We walked up the hills and ran down them. It took 13 minutes, but with all the zig zagging about and tripping me up, not to mention the funny strides, hopping, bickering, skipping and jumping they threw in for added variety, they must have run a bit extra than the mile. Then we had Jelly Babies, because That's What Runners Do. (I ate them after the half marathon last year and it seems to have stuck.)

H8 was determined to do this year's 5k Race for Life with me. She's a Brownie and I was tripping over Brownies last year. She had watched that and taken note.

"Is it further than we ran Mummy?"

"About three times as much, plus a bit."

"Do I get a medal at the end?"

"Yes and a goodie bag."

"Cool."

So we did it last Sunday and H8's friend G8 came too and her mum the lovely Lins who is also a runner. We ran for a bit, we got stuck behind slower runners, we ran for a bit, we stopped for a drink and we ran for a bit. H8 got into her stride half way and really enjoyed it. She wants to run it on her own next year (or in other words she wants to beat me!). R6 wants to do it too.

I think I may have started something...

A big thank you to all of our sponsors - there's still some promised money to collect, but it looks as if we've raised at least £115, this brings my RfL total over the years to in excess of £500.