For our last week at Kiveton Community Woodland, the weather was kind to us. I can't believe we have done week 10 and the next week is the Parkrun! The grand finale. This week we threw the plan out of the window and after a (brief) description of the route from Paul, and an extra check to make sure our deserted duo Alun and Ashley, understood the way, we were raring to go.

Channelling our inner Forrest Gump we hit the road. Not quite Monument Valley but the many roads of Kiveton on a 5km route and it can feel like a very long road ahead. We have all been on a really incredible journey (see how many road related puns you can find) and have challenged ourselves to become more confident at running. It has never been about how fast you go, but often pushing past the mental roadblocks we have when starting out. It's been tough going at times but we stuck together and have kept each other motivated to go that little bit further each week. Running alone can be meditative or provide time to clear your mind but running in a group gives you the motivation to keep going.

Hopefully now you will all have the confidence to turn up at Rother Valley parkrun on 3rd December and do your thing. You've all done so well and this is a great way to finish the course on a high. It's really not a race but an introduction to a running community that will support you in whatever goals you have. You are welcome to join our club runs and I promise we will take it easy and continue building up the distance. The Swallows will be there to run alongside you and you will have support for when you reach the finish line, there may even be more cake! See you on Saturday and don't forget your barcode!

This blogger has been slacking and so we have a two week report instead. Last week, we ran in Kiveton Community Woodland but instead of running round the base like we usually do, we went up! Definitely a shock to the system and a hard hill to get up but we all did it. Week 8 saw us running for 5 minutes (efforts) and 1 minute jog (recovery), everyone powered on and conquered the mountain. Hopefully feeling euphoric with the amazing achievement.

Week 9 and Paul decided to throw caution to the wind and my whistle has been relegated to sitting in my pocket. This week we went outside of the Woodlands and just ran without a time target. We had some adventures into Kiveton and there may have been a few minutes where we thought we might have lost a couple of runners. They weren't lost, they were just checking out another route for next week! All ended on a high and we've all run approximately the same distance on 4.5 to 5k depending how which way you went.

From those of you I've spoken to, it definitely feels like the last two runs have been a defining moment. We often have barriers that we put up, either physical or metaphorical, telling ourselves it's too hard to run or we can't run up hills, all we really need is the confidence to get our trainers on and maybe others to cheer us on.