How it started

It actually started about 15 years ago (before that I never ever ran), and progressed slowly until the end of 2013, but that's a story for another post soon. My serious running adventure started in February/March 2014, and progressed very quickly. In December 2013 I was in the following shape: I exercised on average three times a week. (I called it exercising then, now I call it training.) A typical exercise session for me was a 5-7 km run, or a fast hike up to Mount Ulriken the steep way, or a class at Barry's Bootcamp in Bergen. I started at Barry's Bootcamp in May 2012, which quickly resulted in a significant improvement of my form. By December 2013, I was quite happy with my fitness level, content with my exercise scheme, and all I wanted was to keep things steady at that level for the future. Well at least that's what I thought I wanted...

During Christmas 2013 I had my first 10 km run. I  managed to complete it in exactly one hour, on a slightly hilly asphalt road on a windy day. I was really happy with this achievement. During that Christmas break, my dear friend and neighbor Benedicte (she was the one who got me started on running 15 years ago) suggested that we participate in Oslo half marathon in September 2014. I was really skeptical at first; 21 km sounded really a lot at that time, but when she went ahead and registered, I got my act together and signed up as well. Around the same time, at Barry's they were offering free consultancy sessions with a personal trainer (PT). I had previously considered the issue of a PT and decided against it since I had no future goals and I was happy with the level of my training. Now that I actually had a goal I decided to sign up for a chat with a PT. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. I was assigned to one of the great staff of Barry's, Ketil Ola Skjelvan, and in March 2014 I started regular PT sessions with him.  This immediately gave a boost of my form which was quite unbelievable. In the meanwhile I started to increase the length of my weekly runs, first to 12, then to 15, 16, 18, and finally to 21 km. The day I managed to run 18 km, I decided to sign up for Bergen City half marathon, which was already in April 2014,  just about three weeks ahead in time. My PT Ketil was of incredible help during this time; after every achievement I would send him an email, and get a lot of super encouraging feedback. In fact he was the one who convinced me that I could already do Bergen City, five months before the initial goal of Oslo.

I completed Bergen City half marathon in 2:00:51, and I was extremely happy with that. I figured that signing up for races is a great motivation for training and running, so I continued to participate. After Bergen City I participated in Ulriken Opp, Bergen Fjellmaraton, and Skåla Opp, before the initial goal Oslo was completed in September, just a little more than a couple of weeks ago.

I plan to post about every one of these events, and about bootcamp training, personal training,  interval training, how I trained for Bergen City and for Oslo, how it is to test your fitness at a test lab, weight watching, nutrition supplements, detoxing and juicing, and many many more things. For now, I just want to say that if you are considering to increase the length of your runs, do not hesitate even if you have never run more than 5 km. (And if you've never run before and want to start, there will be posts about that as well!) Just increase slowly, and you'll be there in no time.  You will notice that longer runs have lots of benefits. If you are struggling to watch your weight, it's a great way to keep it under control. If you want to go for it, signing up for a race is a really good motivator; I can highly recommend it.

Good luck!