I'm running a half-marathon!

I'm running a half-marathon! Not a sentence I ever thought I'd say but here we are.

I've signed up to do the Biarritz half-marathon on the 5th of June. Given that the longest distance I've ever ran before is 10k and I'm not a regular runner, it's gonna be a pretty big challenge but I'm excited to take it on!

I decided to sign up because a couple of friends I met here are also doing it so I think it will be fun to do it together. It will also be such a cool thing to be able to say I did during my year abroad and I think the event itself will be pretty spectacular with thousands of people running at once - should be a great atmosphere. Finally, it will be good for my fitness motivation over the next three months and it should help me to push myself and keep exercising regularly. Running in a new place is a really good way to explore the area too.

Since I'm taking on what is probably one of the biggest physical challenges of my life, I've decided to raise money for a charity that I believe is doing really important work and would really benefit from the support, CLAN. CLAN is a cancer support charity which helps cancer patients and their families in Scotland. I volunteered with them in Aberdeen and got to visit the centre they have there and learn more about their work. Having seen the facilities, therapies and other services they offer and after hearing directly from families who have benefited, I really feel that this is a charity I want to support. I've set up a fundraising page and all donations will go directly to CLAN so if you're feeling generous I'd be extremely grateful for any contributions to support the charity and encourage me in my training!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/annie-lennam

I've started training, coming up for two weeks now, and after several 5ks, I finally ran 10k yesterday. I'm really enjoying getting back into the running so far and I'm excited to see progress over the next few months as I gradually increase the length of my runs. For now I've been trying to run three times a week with some strength training on other days. I'm just hoping I can keep up the motivation until June!