10ks and Talents

Written by Tracy Newbury-Abegg

What is it about milestone birthdays that makes you want to set yourself a crazy challenge? Or is that just me?

Last September, a group from my local parkrun signed up for the London Vitality 10,000. I hadn’t run a 10k since 2019 so it seemed like a great time to try for that distance again. I kept quiet in case I majorly failed, but I had a plan brewing. If I managed to complete the event (I never call them a race - I’m not in it to win), I would start to look for a 10k to run each month with the last one taking place on the weekend of my 40th birthday - ten 10ks in ten months. It seemed a great way to raise money for Yes Futures while regaining my misplaced fitness before turning 40.

It turns out that this challenge would also be a great way to test and develop my own Talents of Confidence, Resilience, Communication and Self-Awareness.

I walked and jogged my way through that first 10k in four years and felt an incredible sense of achievement. It was a cool autumn day and we took a route through London that I had walked many times before. The familiarity as well as the entertainment that lined the streets boosted my Confidence and even when I couldn’t run anymore, I kept walking and completed the distance in a respectable 1 hour and 45 minutes, crossing the finish line with one of my parkrun pals.

I kept that private promise to myself and within weeks went on to book 10ks for October, November, December and the following April, deciding it was time to share my challenge with the world. The second 10k in my old university town, Guildford, was great fun and I was buoyed by the fact that I’d be doing the majority of my events during the cooler months.

Alas, two days before November’s 10k, disaster stuck when I fell through a stairgate (there to keep my child safe but clearly not me). A trip to A&E confirmed a badly sprained foot so I stayed home while my friends went off to Marden. December’s 10k became a 5k hobble and I decided to be sensible and wait to fully recover before booking any more events. My Resilience was tested as my challenge had been, well, challenged so soon, but I was determined to succeed. 

In December last year, Yes Futures celebrated its 10th birthday and as we welcomed the New Year, I came up with a new plan. I still had Brighton booked for April, so if I could find an event for March, I could complete a fresh batch of ten 10ks by December. Ten 10ks in ten months to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Yes Futures. The pattern of 10s lit me up and I was pleased that I could still use this challenge for my 40th birthday which would now fall right in the middle.

I have now completed six of my 10k events with my 7th being a return to London for the Vitality 10,000. I am also hoping to finally complete the Marden 10k in November. I’ve really had to focus on my Communication at times, not always remembering to update my fundraising page until long after I’ve completed an event, but I’ve been really grateful for the messages left there as well as the donations received.

Where does Self-Awareness come into this, you may wonder. I’ve had two main epiphanies while doing this challenge.

The first is that 10k is still 10k whether I run or walk it. When I started this, I wanted to run every single kilometre of each of the 10ks. That’s not realistic even for the most seasoned of runners. And I’m not a seasoned runner. I’m a fairly unfit, newish mum who volunteers at parkrun more than she runs and still gets a twinge in her foot now and then. Once I decided it was OK for me to walk some of the 100k, I started to enjoy the events a lot more.

With that in mind, I still wanted to challenge myself. When I do run, it tends to be in winter and on flat roads. When choosing the events I wanted to take part in, I made a conscious decision to do some that I would have avoided in the past. Massive hills? Let’s give it a go! Trail running? Why not?! Running on the hottest weekend of the year? Might walk that one…

I’m not going to pretend that I’ve enjoyed every single moment of this challenge but I’ve enjoyed it more often than not and certainly learnt a lot about myself. I’m very much looking forward to the last few of my events and am currently trying to decide between a 10k Santa Dash for December or whether to finish on a real challenge and do the End of Year 10 Miler - my first time doing that distance.

If you would like to follow me for the rest of my challenge you can find me on Instagram (@tracynewburyabegg) or check in on my fundraising page: https://2023vitalitylondon10000.enthuse.com/pf/tracynewburyabegg

Now, I’d like to set you a challenge. What is something you’ve always wanted to do but not been sure if you could? What is something that would test your four Talents? Why not give it a go and raise some money for Yes Futures in the process? I dare you!

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