Chan took on the R.E.D January challenge to beat the winter blues, but got even more from it as he opened up new conversations with his community. Now that R.E.D is over for another year, Chan shares his experiences.
It’s widely known that many people suffer from the January blues. Every year as the festive season comes to an end and it’s time to go back to work, the highs start turning into lows. You start to notice the colder weather and darker evenings again. The return to a ‘normal’ daily routine suddenly preoccupies your thoughts for no apparent reason.
This year I was determined to have a positive start to the year, that’s why I decided to take part in R.E.D January. The challenge of running every day allowed me to focus on one day at a time and put any feelings I had about the start of the new year to the back of my mind.
I started running just over two years ago. I’d just been made redundant after a career spanning 20 years and was looking for a job. I decided to join the local gym to keep fit and have a break from trawling through job vacancies and making calls to agencies. It was there that I came across a group of runners who I decided to join a couple of times a week, seeing it as a chance to make new friends at the same time.
One day our Run Leader commented on how much my running had improved and how well I was getting on with everyone in the group. He asked me if I’d considered leading my own community running group. I was enjoying my social running so much that the decision was a no-brainer. I soon got my Leadership in Running qualifications and established my own fun community groups for people of all ages, faiths and backgrounds.
The atmosphere and support you get from running in a group is fantastic.
Everyone who joined had the same mind set as me - they wanted to get out of the house and have a break from the same four walls. Some people were looking to make new friends, some just wanted to learn to run and others enjoyed social running and wanted to support their fellow group members.
As a Run Leader who helps others to run and keep fit, I decided to embrace the R.E.D January challenge and get my running groups involved too. We ran together (and continue to do so) at least twice a week, and many of them joined me for a third run at the local Parkrun. The atmosphere and support you get from running in a group is fantastic.
Not only has it made me feel great, R.E.D January has also helped me start conversations and raise awareness of mental health problems, particularly with other people in the Sikh community. Like in many other cultures, mental health problems and their effects remain a taboo subject. There’s stigma and a lack of understanding, which leads to embarrassment, denial and a fear of being judged.
This year I wanted to send a clear message to the Sikh community that anyone can have a mental health problem, regardless of their background, gender or age. I wanted to make sure that people were aware of the symptoms of mental health problems and to let them know that with the right support most people can recover or manage their condition to live a fulfilling life.
I’m hoping to take the message that there is no shame in mental illness further into my community by approaching and working with Sikh organisations and community leaders. Through this work I hope to continue spreading the word and help people in my community embrace and tackle mental health problems together.
The most enlightening moments have come from speaking to people in different communities, not just the Sikh community.
R.E.D. January gave my quest to break the mental health taboo a jump start. It allowed me to engage with people in my community, getting them involved in running for general health and fitness, as well as promoting how it can help them with their mental wellbeing. It has been fantastic to see people getting fit and having a positive start to the New Year. However, the most enlightening moments have come from speaking to people in different communities, not just the Sikh community.
My R.E.D January journey wasn’t smooth sailing by any standard. Some days I didn’t want to run, on others I couldn’t wait to get out and run on my own or with my friends. I’ve had a lot of support both in person and on social media, not only about the Run Every Day challenge but about feeling comfortable talking about mental health problems. I even continued the Run Every Day challenge into February, spurred on by support from my community, and hope to continue to raise funds for such a worthy cause.

Original Article

Do you feel you're not running fast enough? Are you a regular runner who has been struggling to get quicker lately? Are you feeling like you’ve plateaued? Do you have heavy legs when you head out for your usual run? Have you lost your mojo?
 
Well fear not, these are some very common and normal feelings experienced by...well let's face it, most runners!
 
When I first started running, I put enormous pressure on myself for the need to be able to run quickly. My very first 'official' 5km run took me around 50 minutes to complete and even that was an achievement!
 
I was never any good at running but always admired those that did run. Slowly I set about working on wrestling my demons, learning how to breathe efficiently when running in the hope that I could complete a 5km distance a little quicker.
 
Many weeks and months past, during which I felt stronger, or at least feeling more comfortable with myself and my running. Slowly but surely over a period of time I started to see my 5km times drop to 45, 39, 38, 35, 33 and 31 minutes. Whilst this was a magnificent achievement in itself I became frustrated that I couldn't complete the distance in the magical sub 30 minutes.
 
I shared my frustrations with my running mentors and coaches, Tony and John, and this is when I first received the ludicrous advice to "go slower and you will get faster". I must admit in was in some disbelief of this advice. But Tony continued, "go for distance not pace and the times you seek will come to you". Madness right? Yes that's what I thought too! However, this advice coincided with my marathon training earlier this year. Increasing distances were all scheduled over 21 weeks of training; all I had to do was complete them at a comfortable pace and expect some level of growing pains as a result of the effort I was having to put in.
 
John and I partnered up and started getting the weekly challenges going, helping and supporting each other along the way. The words 'a long run should feel like I can keep going forever' ringing through my head, so each run was done at a pace which was regulated to use as little energy as possible but to get the distance covered.
 
Around 15 or 16 weeks into the training, John and I now had several others running with us at this point for our early Saturday morning runs. It was around this time we had the opportunity to adjoin a Parkrun into our training. I felt butterflies as I returned to a timed 5km distance, overloading myself with uneccessary pressure to complete this run in a respectable time. I'd been running distances close to 20 or more km in a single run so 5km was well within my reach. But had I got any quicker, could I do the distance in under 30 mins?
 
Once we set off, I felt good and comfortable at a pace which was stronger and quicker than I had ever experienced before. I thought maybe it's an early phase and fatigue would quickly creep in. But no, I was able to continue with my running for the entire distance.
 
Not once have I trained to go faster. I focused on going further, sometimes at just past a walking pace. The result was I felt more like a runner than I had ever felt before.
 
...Oh I forgot to mention, not only did I break the sub 30min for 5k on that day but I have since smashed it again!
 
My focus now is to break the 28min barrier and I am SLOWLY but surely working towards getting even FASTER!