23rd January 2011

January 23^rd 2011

Today is the day….ahhhhh

I was feeling nervous from pretty much as soon as I got up. Why…. The ‘fun run’ wasn’t until 3pm! It’s not as if I’m in it to win it. I’m taking part as a challenge to myself and to have fun!

I spend the morning pootaling around, visiting a friend’s farm, taking Catriona to see the animals and then getting back home to get lunch. On no…what to eat. I always get a stitch. Okay it was a banana sandwich. At least they tend to stay down.

Now it was time to get ready as I was picking my running buddy up to get to the fun run. Nessie was inflated, Audiofuel t-shirt at the ready (do I get extra points for advertising?), trainers clean, socks darned. Time to go.

We arrived at Ravenscraig indoor sports facility in plenty of time. Registered and did the usual visit to the loo (already been before I left but needed to go again). The 6km run was to be around the outside of the indoor Astroturf football pitch. The kids were still playing matches on it so it was obvious that the start was going to be delayed. My running buddy and I did a bit of a warm up in the adjacent hall that had sprint lanes. (Very fancy place by the way). We needn’t have bothered. The race organisers had lined up a bit of Zumba for us for get warmed up. Have you every tried Zumba with an inflatable around your middle. Not easy I can tell you. At this point I’m worried that I’m already knackered! Few minutes of running and 10 minutes of zumba were enough.

 

The organisers got us ready. There were two ‘areas’ one for walkers and one for ‘runners;. Well I wasn’t walking but I wouldn’t class myself as a runner. But runners group is was. There weren’t many of us at the event and the other ‘idiots’ in fancy dress all seemed to be in the walking section. My buddy and I appeared to be the only ones in the running section clad in anything other than running gear. We obviously must be loony.

And we’re off. We were told to do 17 laps. Can you imagine, not only did we have to run, we had to count at the same time. I think I chanted the lap number all the way around each lap. I didn’t want to cheat; I’d only be cheating myself. I was actually very surprised. Running on Astroturf is great. It’s soft on the joints and very springy. We were flying. Maybe my inflatable Nessie had a lifting factor as well as I didn’t feel knackered at this point. At the half way mark I nearly chocked at our time. We were doing amazingly. We even managed some skipping and some side steps down one side to give us a change.....why not!

In the end we completed the 6km in 27 minutes and 14 seconds. I couldn’t believe it. That was a staggering 19 minutes off last year’s time. I actually went up to the organisers and double checked that race had been measured out properly. He said that was what he had been told. Who am I to argue? Even if it was only 5km I’d have been chuffed with the time. But if the organiser said it was 6km then 6km it must have been. (Don’t expect me to do that time in a road race!)  All I can say is thanks to me running buddy for keeping it going and a huge thanks to Janathon, Martin Yelling and Sean Audiofuel for all the training tips and encouragement. Thank you also to St. Andrews hospice who organised the event, especially on astroturf.... where PB's can be made.

6km race…. 27 minutes and 14 seconds oh and I’m a winner…..no not of the race but of the fancy dress. Yes I won the best turned out female. What can I say? I won something after all xxx.