Email: alisongrist@tiscali.co.uk Call: +44 (0)7940 59 00 70

January 2009:  For me at least, one of the joys of getting older seems to be a greater tolerance for distance running.

I’ve been running on and off for about ten years. But I just wasn’t interested in it when I was younger, apart from games where you had to run and hide. At school I was always put down for the throwing events – javelin, shot put and my greatest achievement coming in discus where I took Second Place in the school’s District Sports. I’ve always been tall and not exactly skinny so the idea of running more than a hundred metres was never very thrilling.

Don’t get me wrong, I was in the netball, hockey and tennis teams so I wasn’t anti-exercise - just anti distance running. I didn’t see the point.

As I’m getting older I’m finding my mental ability is stronger and I can cope with the struggle. I know that if I work through the first ten minutes by controlling my breathing, it gets easier and I can achieve what I want to achieve. With age comes wisdom and that wisdom has taught me that I can run for an hour or so and I won’t collapse and die. I will be extremely tired and my legs might ache but in the long run I’ll feel fitter and it’s a fantastic way to burn fat.

My Dad took up running in his forties and is still going strong at 68. In fact, most of my family take part in a local 10K race once a year. It’s not an easy one, it has a couple of long steady hills but I have been getting quicker each year and decided, after last year’s, that if I really wanted to improve I needed proper training....plodding around my local park in my comfort zone a couple of times a week just wasn’t going to cut the mustard.

So slowly, slowly, it’s now January and I’ve joined the Ealing, Southall and Middlesex Athletic club. With the opportunities to do hill training on Monday nights and sprinting on Wednesdays, followed by long runs on Sunday mornings, it has coaching opportunities and discipline aplenty.

There are some excellent runners in the club, triathletes, marathon runners, fast 10K racers... I must be one of the worst runners there - and yet I have enjoyed it so far.