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Sunday 7 December 2014

Running in the Family

Freezing morning Advent run
It was my big sister who really got me into running. Back when I was a chubby student, surviving on a cliched diet of chips cheese and mayonnaise washed down by cheap booze and cheaper fags, she would drag a reluctant Crand out on a little run when I was home from uni. I knew it was her way of saying I could do with dropping a few pounds and living healthier, but really I was mostly worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up.

We used to go out for about 20 minutes, sometimes with my mum and I was surprised that I could in fact keep up with them, and that I actually quite enjoyed it. I remember coming home from the gym and telling her I'd run a whole 5 minutes without stopping. I was so chuffed!

Since then Katie has run a half marathon, and sobbed over the finish line which sounds vaguely familiar, along with lots of 5 and 10ks and still goes running regularly.
In the years since I've clocked up three marathons and lots of half marathons, 10ks etc, many of which cheered on by Katie and my nephew. But we haven't run together in years.

So I was excited when she told me she'd signed up for Advent Running online and would need to sneak in a run or two when they came to visit me in Manchester this weekend. She warned me she wasn't fast and we wouldn't be going far, but I didn't care. I was excited to go out running with my big sister again, something we never get to the chance to do any more.

We went out twice together over the weekend and Katie said that Sunday, her seventh day running in a row was the hardest yet. BUT we still ran faster than the day before and still got our bums out the door and pounding the pavements in the icy rain. And now she can say she has run every day for a week, a claim I have never, and probably will never, be able to make.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how far you go or how fast you run, sometimes it's just about having fun and running with your sister because you can.

If you live in Cardiff you might want to follow Katie's blog for what's happening in the 'diff (I am biased but it is good)

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