Hi, I'm Helen!

Hi! My name's Helen. I'm 16 and I live in London.

I joined realbuzz because I've decided to make it my goal to be able to run a marathon. It's always been a sort of life goal of mine but I thought if I ever want to achieve it then I'd better set some goals and start training for it! I'm basically working from the ground up so my first goal is to run a 5K by the 21st October. I'm going on a singing course on 4th August and won't be back until the 18th so unfortunately I have to postpone beginning training until then!

I used to be a ballet dancer (I did it for 11 years!) but gave up about a year and a half ago - biggest regret of my life! I miss it a lot but there's pretty much no way I could jump back into it. Since giving up dance I've lost a lot of my strength, endurance and flexibility, so those are all things I'd like to gain back!

It's very nice to be here and to meet you all! :)

Hi Helen and welcome! Great to have you here - please let us know how the training goes!

Hi Helen,

Good on you for setting such an amazing goal. It sounds like you're really talented with your singing and dancing so I'm sure you'll be fab with this goal too.  Let us know how you get on with it. There are plenty of people on here who are willing to share advice and help you out if you have any questions :). Laura x x x x

Good on you for challenging yourself in a different area than what you're used to! How come you gave up ballet? I can imagine it's hard to just return to such a demanding activity once you've had a break from it. Ballet is more challengin than most sports! (Not that footballers would agree, but it's true!).

How exciting Helen! I bet you get the running bug, especially because you were so dedicated to dance. Will you keep us posted with how you get on?

Hi Helen, welcome to the forums! That's great you're working towards one of your life goals! Which marathon is it you want to run?

Thanks so much for the warm welcomes, everybody! I'll be sure to keep you updated on the training front :)

@Rachel_Amy, I gave up ballet for a number of reasons, it used to be held across the street from where I live but it moved a long drive away, it cost a lot of money/ time, and the other girls there were really bitchy... A culmination of things really!

@hannah_mc - I definitely want to run the London Marathon at some point! My dad did it when he was younger so it'd be awesome to follow in his footsteps :D I think you have to be 18 for that though.

It's great to meet all of you! <3

Dancing can be really expensive can't it, that's the beauty of running I suppose. It's relatively cheap. Plus there's no bitchy girls (or if there are, you just need to run faster than them!)

Haha so true!

That's a shame about bitchy girls contributing to you giving up! But yeah at least you won't get that with running! How is the training going?

good for u alaways good to have a fresh challlenge. u will find that ur fitness will return quickly due to ur dance back round. runners always a friendly bunch, i have often travelled to various races on my own and there will always be someone there to chat with. good luck for ur first race!!

yes good luck! I'm sure you'll do great