Running has given new meaning to my life

Following on from the article describing Ian's running experience in Liverpool, this week we hear from Lisa who joined the Croxteth Run Group after seeing a post on Facebook about a group called Croxteth Park - Get Going and thought she would give it a go.  She hadn’t visited the park since she was a child and it would be nice even just to take a look at it, she told herself.

Lisa tells her story:

After having 2 children and consuming all the food in my house and ordering every takeaway delight I could think of every weekend. Obviously in prep for the start of my diet every Monday I decided 2016 was going to be my year. I would get super fit, eat healthy, lose weight and do something amazing that I would never have thought myself capable of doing.

I got off to a rocky start still eating awful foods but I did start running here and there and attending a boot camp class. I soon became bored of this and running on my own - not really knowing how far or long I should be running for - soon lost its appeal.

I started to fall back into my old habits and making excuses to myself as to why I couldn’t run that day.

I attended my first session and after a very friendly welcome from the other runners I chose to run the 5k parkrun route with one half of the group. We all chatted together during our run learning where everyone was from what they do for a living and what running goals everybody had. If somebody fell behind the rest of the group would loop back to them and encourage the person to keep going. I loved the route we ran and after previously running a parkrun at another location and hating every minute of it I decided I would try the parkrun at Croxteth the following Saturday.

The park is so beautiful and the scenery along the routes alone encourages you to keep going.  Since that first session I am totally focused on running, I have lost weight, gained muscle and run or cycle 6 days a week as well as gaining a new 5k PB most Saturdays at the parkrun. I am down 2 dress sizes and my self-confidence and belief in what I can do has snowballed.

Vicky is a fantastic coach and really pushes you to what she knows you are capable of even if you don’t know it yourself. It may sound strange but joining the group and running has given new meaning to my life; I have more energy, have made some great like-minded friends and entered a 67km adventure race in august (my something amazing) although still daunting now, I would never have had the confidence to do this before. (Lisa has since completed this which is amazing).

I’m happier inside and out, after returning home on a Monday night I feel like I have achieved something even just from the social aspect of the group and some adult conversation. It’s something for me, away from family life. There are men and women of all different shapes, sizes, abilities and fitness levels cheering each other on to a common goal."