To think I could get back into athletics?

[princesspea111]

I used to do athletics at club/county level when I was a teenager, was probably at my best at age 15. I was nothing special, but put an awful lot of time into it and won a few county level medals in my time. I loved it. Stopped when I was about 17.

I’m 25 now and whilst fairly fit, I’m not really into doing any sports these days. But going through heartbreak recently has made me want to rekindle with things I used to enjoy.
Am I being naive in thinking I could be a good runner again? I’m not expecting to be amazing but I just don’t know if it’s worth it. It took me a lot of training to get to where I was so I don’t know whether to bother.

Park runs might a place to start

I’d love to do something like that but long distance is not my thing. Probably should have mentioned I was a sprinter!

No way! You could definitely compete in local sport events. Why not?

How do you feel about endurance sports? Half marathons often have good regional competition.

Also worth considering whether you might like to try another sport that doesn't leave you trying to match your previous PBs. Perhaps something like swimming, cycling or rowing?

You can certainly go to an athletics club and run again. I dont know much about athletics but swimming has masters competitions and people are breaking world records in their 80s.

Rowing has lots of short regatta events in that case. You might quite like it, if you happen to be near a river.

I'm sure you could get back into it, look at local clubs. I only started running 5-6 yrs ago and not a natural runner. My 12 yr old is a member of a running club and there are plenty of options for runners of all ages. If you won medals at 17 I'm sure you'd still do well now!

How about trying parkrun first to see how you get on. It's also a good way of meeting local runners!

You also don't need to be the fastest or winning medals to enjoy running and the health benefits! I've found I enjoy it more when I put less pressure on myself. A social run with a friend or my DD is one of my favourite type of runs!!

You've obviously got natural ability (no amount of training can make a county winner out of nothing!) and you're still so young. You could definitely get back into it with training and conditioning. Do some hill sprints etc, get some current times and think about joining a running club. I would say though that obviously sprinting is harder on the body with ageing whereas most long distance runners can keep going at some level until they're 50s or later.

Absolutely you could! DS runs as an U15 for a club, they have people still sprinting in their 50’s - DS was seeded against a V45 last week at an open. At 25 I think you’d still be a Senior, so the times will be fast, but no reason you couldn’t join a Club and see how you get on. Good luck OP 😊