As part of the Life Style Sports #GirlsRunTheWorld campaign, Michelle McMahon, Editor of Her.ie and Sue Murphy, TV & Film Editor,were challenged to run a 10k race after 12 weeks of training. MICHELLE'S DIARY AN EMPIRE STATE OF MIND I'm back in the Her.ie offices and in training this week after I jetted off to New York for myself on holidays and left Sue on her lonesome for a few days. I'd say I felt guilty, but she's doing the same to me next week so it all evens out. The week before I was away was a bad one for me. I was feeling very run down, I was moving house and I had a to-do list as long as my arm. But come Friday, February 28th, I didn't care as I boarded a plane in Shannon bound for the big apple. It was a case of good behaviour for me on the first night mind, as I was in bed early and hoping for a good night's sleep ahead of my VERY FIRST RACE. I had signed up for the Frozen Penguin run in Brooklyn, so early on Saturday morning, March 1st I boarded the subway to take me to Bayridge. It's baltic in New York at the moment, so I was well wrapped up on the way. I was really, really nervous (the kind of nervous where you voluntarily queue for the Port-A-Loo to pee three times in one hour - TMI?), as well as freezing when we took our races numbers and headed for the start of the track. And suddenly, after weeks of planning and training... we were off! The setting was beautiful, but I was too focused on breathing and keeping my legs moving to take much notice. Weeks ago, Peter told me jokingly that I could only accept the medal if I finished in 30 minutes or less. The week before I left, he took that down to 29, and joked about 28. At the time I was really annoyed with him, because if the goalposts moved and I didn't reach my target I would feel like a failure. It didn't matter. Adrenaline kicked in, and I managed to finish in 26 minutes and 26 seconds. To say I was (and still am) thrilled, would be an understatement. I was so proud and happy to do it at all, never mind to beat all my targets. That said, I was as lazy as I've ever been for the rest of the week (what, I was on my holidays?!), and I found getting back into training yesterday tough to say the least. But it's back to the grindstone now, and I still have a long way to go before I hit that 10km goal. Peter's already warning me he'll be pushing me harder very soon... Eek. I can do it. Probably. For now I'll just stare at my penguin medal some more. SUE'S DIARY! WE CAN RUN IF WE WANT TO! This week was a little strange as I had no Michelle with me for training as she was off in New York running around the place! She finished the 5k in just 26 minutes and was putting me to shame! However, there was no way Peter was going to let me away with an easy week. The week didn't start off too well. I was blogging the Oscars for the site on Sunday night, which meant I had to be up until 5am staring at the television. At 7am, I was out in TV3 to chat about the Oscars. Needless to say, with just about forty minutes sleep, I didn't do any training on Monday. On Tuesday, we went to the Iveagh Gardens and did a bit of running with strengthening work. This was probably the first running session I have actually had since the whole knee incident and it was great to be back training again. Wednesday meant I was back in the pool while on Thursday, being on the late shift, I went to an early Pilates class and then went on to meet Peter for training. I did quite a bit of running compared to before and also a lot of strengthening work. Then I woke up on Friday morning. THE JOY OF MUSCLE PAIN! I could barely lift my arm high enough to turn off a light switch which was really interesting. However, I made sure I went to the pool as this would help with the muscle issues. Unfortunately, I didn't really have a break over the weekend, and with a quick run on Saturday and a bike session on Sunday, I had basically done seven days of training with a class of Pilates. Yes, the pain is real but boy, do you sleep well! To join Sue this week: Train 5 x times per week plus one Pilates class for strengthening. Two swimming sessions – Up to about forty lengths now. Two bike sessions – 45mins/1 hour on bike on a very easy setting. Two running sessions - Short running sessions, thirty mins, one min short jog, one min walk. Exercises – Single leg lifts, sit-ups, strengthening knee muscles, foam roller on the calves and on the outside of the legs. Find pb3 coaching on Facebook for more details on the training programme Whatever kind of training you are involved in, the Life Style Sports Product Experts (in stores nationwide) are on hand to ensure each customer selects the correct clothing and footwear to meet their individual needs, reducing risk of injury and achieving better results. Life Style Sports also offers customers a free Gait Analysis service in select stores which provides runners with an essential insight into their individual running styles. Customers can also find all the information they need on wearing the right technical apparel, including “Sports Bra Fitting Guides” and footwear while running or working out at “The Fitness Hub” on lifestylesports.com.