Paolla's Races

Thanks for taking the time to visit my Running page.
Paolla's Races
2012 Virgin London Marathon 
2011/2010 GRIM Challenge
2010 JPMorgan Challenge
2010 Virgin London Marathon
2010 Love Run 10K
2009 October's Beachy Head Marathon
2009 Regent's Park Summer 10K Races
2009 BUPA London 10,000
2009 Greenwich 10K Meridian Run
2009 Brooks Last Friday of the Month 5K
2009 Love Run 10K

A personal note:

 
I first caught the running bug in 2008; it was the 5K JPMorgan Challenge in London.  It was a hot, clear day, and loads of people turned up, to the point that we could barely appreciate the great views of Battersea Park.

As time passed, I would occasionally run at the gym or with colleagues during lunch breaks.

 As the markets worsened, redundancy inevitably came and, after the rush of the holidays and sorting all things practical, I was left with a lot of time to spare.

The first week saw me catch up on some much needed sleep, the second week I watched all the TV I had missed during the past few years, I went to auctions and saw first hand how the world unfolded and repossessions of freehold homes would go for peanuts.

Although I was utterly bored, I was grateful that I didn't have a family to support or a mortgage to honour.

I had done all I should to find work then, short of being offered a job, so I started running to fill my days. I had no distractions and all the time in the world. I just had to eat, train and sleep.  

The runnersworld website was a great place to find information including on how to prepare for a 10K.


2008 Love Run

I started a program of four sets of 5Ks a week at the gym, monitored my heart rate and learned that slow running or jogging was a great way to condition your heart.    One day I was feeling really energised and just like that I had run over the 5K mark I normally did, so I went for 7K, and just like that it was 10K.  

I ran my first 10K on Valentines Day at Battersea Park in 2009, where I had done my first 5K in the Summer of 2008. 


So much had changed in less than one year, and the funny thing was that this time I noticed the beauty of the park around me and enjoyed my run and my finish. One could say I enjoyed the journey of getting there.

So finally on October 2009 I did the full 26.2 miles Beachy Head Marathon, on Eastbourne. It was the most gruelling and challenging thing I have ever done.  Needless to say having been my first marathon, it took a lot longer to finish it than I expected (7hrs). It did not help I only realised on the day it was actually a cross-country marathon, up hill and into the wind!
 

2009 Love Run

If anything, the credit crunch has given me a new perspective on life, and has allowed me to take my time and to bring more quality into my personal life.
In 2010 I was pleased to be given the opportunity to run the London Marathon, which I am glad it was pretty much flat all the way. I have continued to raise funds for charity supporting The Royal British Legion, and The Red Cross.

Enjoy your run, whatever that may be. PG