Dr Ashley Ng

I have just signed up for Run Melbourne 2013!

WHAT!?

A year ago I would have outright said no to any sort of running and now I’ll be attempting to run 5km for fundraising purposes?!

OUTRAGEOUS!

How did this happen?

A while ago, I spoke about participating in the exercise physiologist student clinic, Clinical Exercise & Learning Centre, at my university. I feel like that experience has turned my life around in many ways, both mentally and physically. Firstly, I realised that if I wanted to make exercise a priority, I had to stop making excuses for myself. Most importantly, my time with the exercise physiologist students and supervisors gave me the confidence boost I needed to exercise in public. It may sound silly but I reckon that to some degree, I had always felt self conscious about going to the gym simply because I had no idea what I was doing (I think I’m seeing some understanding smiles and nodding heads there!).

In January, I took my fitness challenge to the next level by signing up to the boot camp program with my gym. Granted, I didn’t see it all the way to the end. In my defence, my bed couldn’t bear to let me go at 5am in the mornings. However, I did stick it out past the halfway mark, which for my first boot camp, I am pretty damned chuffed about it (and also the fact that I wasn’t the first person to drop out!)

Then, uni started back up. As I went further into the start of my Masters course, I had lesser time to fit in my exercise (pun unintended, I promise) around all my other commitments. I also started to lose motivation. I was doing the same exercises every time I went to the gym and it got boring very quickly. So I decided to spice things up. I continued to go to the Clinical Exercise & Learning Centre for group exercise sessions on Monday evenings. I went to boxing classes at the gym on Tuesday nights. And I did a group personal training session on Thursdays, with BENeFIT Exercise and Training, which was started by a couple of exercise physiologist student who have now recently graduated. That was my minimum. If I could fit anything else in, it was a win. Mind you, it was never often that I could fit anything else in!

Recently, due to budget cuts at my boyfriend’s company, he has had less hours but more ‘free time’. So we took up this opportunity to do some exercise together like we used to a long time ago. I must say that I surprised the both of us when he suggested that we go for a run and I didn’t have to stop every 100m, dying of breathlessness! One of my little goals last year was to be able to go for a run with him and keep up. Today, I’m much closer to that goal than I was twelve months ago. Again, feeling pretty chuffed. So last week, when I received an email from Abbott Diabetes Care about joining Team FreeStyle, which is the running team for Diabetes Australia – Vic and Abbott Diabetes Care in the Run Melbourne 2013, 5km run/walk, I thought why not. As if that’s not enough motivation, Cathy Freeman, who is the ambassador for Abbott Diabetes Care will also be running along in Team FreeStyle to help raise funds to support programs and services for people living with diabetes. Together, Abbott Diabetes Care and Diabetes Australia – Vic aim to recruit 280 people to run with Team FreeStyle, which represents the number of people who are diagnosed with diabetes everyday. After a sleeping on it for a night, I discussed it further with my boyfriend. After a lot of um’s and but’s, we signed up for it. Not just to prove to ourselves that we can conquer this 5km race (I have no qualms that he can do it, but me on the other hand…) but also to help fundraise for a good cause.

Since registering for the event, we have been training several times a week for it. I’m not going to lie, there have been tears and plenty of blood, sweat and hypos involved, but it will be worth it. This would be my first ever fun run and I am nervous, anxious but excited and exhilarated at the same time. Not only am I representing an organisation who has quickly become the core of my life but this will mark a significant accomplishment for me. To do it all with my boyfriend, who has been extremely supportive and encouraging is an extra bonus. (Back off ladies, he’s mine!) But in essence, to think that I would turn my nose at the thought of running a year ago and now I’m preparing for my first 5km run is simply mind-blowing to me! Wish me luck!

If you would like to contribute, support &/or encourage, you can donate online here. Thank you! Also, if anyone has any tips for my first fun run, please let me know!