I halved my 5K time in a year

by Michael Mullan, Ready Steady Go Pitreavie.

I had tried so many times to kick the habit of smoking and failed each and every time, but I finally managed it in May of last year. Two months on I had installed a beautiful new three quarter length mirror into the bathroom. It was fantastic until I got out the shower and got the fright of my life at who was standing in front of me! It was then I started on my journey to fitness.

I bought a bike and used it three times and then left it in the shed - cycling wasn’t really for me! Then I remembered how much I used to love running. I did it between the ages of 14 and 17, and it left me with some very fond memories. How hard could it be to pick it back up? It’s only one foot in front of the other after all, isn’t it? I found out how wrong I was VERY quickly.

Google showed Pitreavie AAC Endurance as my local running club. Nice evening it was, so I chucked on my shorts, t-shirt and trainers and jumped in the car to be ready for them all starting at 6:30pm. We started the session at the top of the hill. I got a whole 200 yards down the hill when I thought my whole body was going to explode! I could not for the life of me get my head around what was going on. This wasn’t what I remembered at all!

Campbell Blair, a coach, noticing the terror on my face, ran back to me and guided me to start slow - jog one minute and walk one minute. In all, it took me 53 minutes to cover little over 5km. Plenty of time for him to tell me about the group called Ready, Steady Go Pitreavie and the amazing work that they do to help get people, quite literally, up and running. I was sold from that chat.

I turned up for my first jogscotland session, with jog leader Nicola Moriarty and the gang, and we did a short run at the beach. It was tough, but not so hard that it would put me off. Everyone was really welcoming and amazingly supportive. I instantly felt part of something special, and the feelings that I used to get from running came flooding back to me. I decided right there and then that was it, I was going to do whatever it took to get back to running.

That was in July 2018. Skip forward to May this year, and how things have changed! One year since I quit smoking and I’ve done it, I’ve really done it! I could genuinely cry – I finished a 5K race, without stopping, in the Scottish Championships at Silverknowes in Edinburgh, and in a time that previously would have needed the car to get me there so quickly. I’d run it in 25 minutes – half what I’d taken to do that first 5K I attempted.

I also had a weigh in before the race and I had lost over 2 stone since I started. I’m over the moon and I know, deep in my heart, that I would never have got to that point without the encouragement and guidance of the jog leaders at Ready, Steady Go Pitreavie, and Pitreavie AAC. For all this, I will be forever grateful.

There are a few great lessons that I have picked up along the way from all of this: Set yourself realistic goals, train consistently, be patient, learn to fail happily, and NEVER let anyone tell you that you can’t - especially yourself!