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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think a 10k in two months is unrealistic?

156 replies

LavenderSkies · 18/05/2026 04:05

A friend of ours is doing a 10k in a few months that’s a fundraiser for brain cancer (he lost his dad to brain cancer last year). Another friend has decided to join him (he’s a cancer survivor himself, not brain cancer though), and they’ve today asked DH to join as well (he lost his mum over Christmas to brain cancer). He’s agreed, but he has less than 2 months to train.

While I think it’s great DH wants to get in shape and support such an important
cause, him thinking he can run 10k in 2 months is absolute insanity to be completely honest. DH hasn’t been a member of a gym in almost 8 years and he doesn’t exercise beyond kicking the footy with the kids (every now and then he decides to start running, goes twice and I don’t hear about it again for 6+ months). These friends are much fitter than he is; the one who signed up first has been training for this since last year, the other is a regular runner. DH is not where either of them are at at all and regularly complains about how unfit he is.

He claims he’ll train but my question is when? He works full time and we have 3 kids, so weekends are pretty full. He and SILs are also in the process of clearing out their mum’s house so they can put it on the market, which is time consuming. He starts work at 7:30am so before work isn’t really an option (he’s not a morning person as it is). He mentioned his way home from work, which would be doable 3 nights of the week (the other 2 nights our kids have sport commitments at the same time in different locations, so we need to divide and conquer). He has a side business that he works on of an evening. And weekends have more kids sport, plus the usual kids runaround and social commitments, plus trying to squeeze in him going to his mum’s. And then there’s the matter that adding something else to his plate at the moment takes away even more time from his kids (or from my time with him if he was to go of an evening after the kids are in bed). I just don’t see how this is possible and feel he’s taking on more than he can chew.

I said I didn’t see how this was going to work and he accused me of being unsupportive. I’m not trying to be unsupportive, but I am trying to be realistic/practical. If he wants to get in shape, great! But maybe start small with a couple of gym sessions a week until he has more capacity. If he wants to run the 10k for his mum, incredible! But maybe aim for next year or a different location later this year so he has time to actually train for it. AIBU to think it’s crazy to attempt a 10k in less than 2 months given these circumstances?

OP posts:
RappelChoan · 19/05/2026 07:33

OP I am glad you have realised this is possible. My advice is to not look to your husband for support/sharing life’s demands at the moment. He is at the centre of this grief, you are a couple of ripples out, and you are carrying him and the children. What you need is friends or family a couple of ripples beyond that, who can support you.

for example when I was supporting my best friend through something horrendous, some NCT friends came round and brought me dinner. I will always remember their kindness in supporting me to support someone else.

You are clearly a great coper. How are you at asking for help? I’m sure you would help a friend/fellow mum if the roles were reversed.

staringatthesun · 19/05/2026 07:44

It's absolutely doable. There are lots of apps with plans that would fit this timeframe. There are always so many different abilities in races like this, he's not expected to break records and there is no shame in walking parts of the course if he needs to. Edit to say that I've now read all of OPs posts and can see she already knows this! Hope it goes well OP.

catipuss · 19/05/2026 07:47

He's not going to be running with them, he will be at the back jogging a bit and walking a bit. Good for him for doing it though.

pinksheetss · 19/05/2026 07:47

He’ll be fine, and I think you are being a bit unsupportive.

I ran a 10k a couple weekends ago where I’d never ran more than a 5k before. It was a great experience, I ran it in 1 hour 4 minutes

LavenderSkies · 19/05/2026 09:01

RappelChoan · 19/05/2026 07:33

OP I am glad you have realised this is possible. My advice is to not look to your husband for support/sharing life’s demands at the moment. He is at the centre of this grief, you are a couple of ripples out, and you are carrying him and the children. What you need is friends or family a couple of ripples beyond that, who can support you.

for example when I was supporting my best friend through something horrendous, some NCT friends came round and brought me dinner. I will always remember their kindness in supporting me to support someone else.

You are clearly a great coper. How are you at asking for help? I’m sure you would help a friend/fellow mum if the roles were reversed.

I would definitely be doing what I could to support a friend in my position, but I am admittedly terrible at asking for help. We do have a lot of family (my side) and friends around us who I’m sure would be willing to help, so I really should reach out.

I think we have a decent plan for him to get some training in over the next 2 months - a quick gym session (30-45mins) on the way home from work 2-3 nights a week, and an hour or so session of a weekend wherever it can be squeezed in.

OP posts:
RappelChoan · 19/05/2026 10:31

LavenderSkies · 19/05/2026 09:01

I would definitely be doing what I could to support a friend in my position, but I am admittedly terrible at asking for help. We do have a lot of family (my side) and friends around us who I’m sure would be willing to help, so I really should reach out.

I think we have a decent plan for him to get some training in over the next 2 months - a quick gym session (30-45mins) on the way home from work 2-3 nights a week, and an hour or so session of a weekend wherever it can be squeezed in.

I had a feeling that might be the case. From one coper to another I really do recommend asking people for help. It’s wierd but it’s worth it. Perhaps you could start with asking if someone can help with some of the after school activities, eg if you explain you are in danger of being overwhelmed with how much you have to cope with at the moment and could they bring DC1 home from cubs for the next few sessions it would really help you out.

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