Race for Life!

I really meant to post this sooner...but I don't know

where the time's gone! So, on Sunday afternoon, the girls and I took part in the 5K Race for Life. On the way there, I was a bit stressed as we were running late, but when we got there the stress melted away as I realised that there was still plenty of time to get ready!

We attached our race numbers,

then wandered over towards the main stage, where there were loads of other women and girls who were also taking part. Some were in fancy dress and others were wearing customised T-Shirts. Then a warm up session started...it was pretty cheesy but good fun to watch! I wanted to join in, but my friends were having none of it, so I decided against it! Then came the serious bit...we all had a couple of minutes silence to think about the people we were taking part in the race for, while a video played on the big screen that reminded us of exactly why we were going to be spending part of our day walking/jogging/running 5K. Even though I wasn't racing for anyone in particular, I still found it really emotional and even got a bit teary!

After this, it was time to get started! The walkers, joggers, runners and people with pushchairs were guided to their various start points (we were walking due to lack of training!) and then one by one our groups set off. It was a bit slow to get started; we had been walking for over 7 minutes before we even reached the start line, but once we did it was fantastic! There were marshals cheering us along the way, and once we got past the first couple of KMs, the time seemed to go really quickly. Even the weather managed to stay dry! We reached the finish line in a time of 1h 13 mins, so if you take the 7 minutes off, we managed it in just over an hour which was pretty good going considering we walked the whole way!

As we crossed the finish line, we were handed our medals and a goody bag which contained some Nivea, Tetley and Ricola samples and a Cif booklet as well as the all important cereal bar and bottle of water! After a short sit down, we made our way towards the exit, browsing the stands as we went. Although I was a bit achy, the race was definitely worth it! I had a fantastic time, and managed to raise money for charity in the process. All that's left to say is:

Bring on next year!!

I really should start training...

for my first 5K run, in 10 days!! It only seems like yesterday when it was 2 months away and I was discussing training with my friends. I even downloaded a training programme from the Net, but needless to say that didn't go quite to plan!

Luckily enough, we're all in the same boat, so we're all going to be helping each other through and not running too fast! Nevertheless, I know we'd feel much better if we tried some jogging beforehand and there are tentative plans for something tonight, so we shall see... ;-) !

At the end of the day, however, the most important thing is the fact that it's a charity race, so by taking part we'll be able to raise lots of money for Cancer Research :-) Despite the lack of training, I'm really looking forward to taking part, and am even tentatively thinking about doing a 10K for the same charity in a few months! Suppose it would be wiser to see how this goes first though...