What fun that was! Absolutely brilliant. Left home at 7:30am on my scooter and froze myself to death as far as Haymarket in Central London. Parked up in a bay in Charles II Strreet and made my way towards the meeting point at the War Rooms. Before too long, so many HU Forum chums had arrived - Aliboo, boz, Juicyju, TurboTortoise, Getting fitter, Aussie, c4ats, beads, realfoodieclub, Vicky, Sue, Karen, Miles_Yonder and loads of other friendly folk amongst many others.
Juicyju, Vicky and I set off to the start line to gauge the lie of the land, so to speak, and get a gauge of the "vibe". Juicyju visited the facilities as I stood guard outside in case any freakish person tried the door whilst she was otherwise engaged. There were Polar Bear people there to give you a "hug" if you so desired, but I refrained from such close proximity to a stranger and carried on walking toward the start line.
We had been given start times but these quickly got cast aside as the throng of people approached the start line area. Juju, Vicky and I made our way to the start area, where we heard a rousing "Go for it" speech by Jo Pavey (couldn't bloody see her) and we all moved forward ten yards. We STOPPED as the first "wave" went out. It turned out that we were in WAVE 2 and as the people gathered around us, the temperature of our bodies rose to comfort levels. Up until NOW we were ABSOLUTELY F***ING FREEEEEEEEZING!!!!! I'm not kidding folks, it was cuttingly cold out there. And once wwe'd jettisoned out warm "throw away" tops, we were all shivering like bast**ds!!
At least we were off. Vicky tore off like a mad woman. Juicyju and I decided to run together to give each other moral support. We had the most idyllic run together - chatting occasionally, checking each other every now and again to make sure we were "ok" and the kilometre markers came and went SOOOOOO quickly!! It really helped running along with someone who was the same speed. I had no desire today to get a PB - I just wanted to enjoy the fun of it. The pace Juju and set ourselves was PERFECT. Not too slow, but not so fast that we'd get completely knackered.
At K9 I suggested we pick up the pace, for a glorious finish. As it was, we were both getting a bit tired at this stage and as we approached the finish line, I grabbed her arm - linking it into mine and said "we are gonna finish at the SAME TIME baby!". We crossed the line in unison and breathed heavily. We had DONE it in around 58 minutes and some change.......
Body temperatures dropped considerably incredibly quickly after the finish. I ran off to my scooter to put on another top and also another pair of trousers over my running tights. Juju and Vicky sauntered off to the very posh Charing Cross Hotel where we all met up for a chat later. TurboTortoise joined us before we left for the giant Blue Cock on Trafalgar Sq to meet with other folks. We took pictures, some of which I hope will end up on here!!
So here's the conundrum......
I checked the website for results time and get this....Even though Juicyju and I set off and finished at EXACTLY the same time, hers was 59'42 and mine was 1 hour 11 mins 12 secs?????? WHAT the F*** is that all about???????? Clearly the chips they gave us are a pile of sh**e and didn't work. Ah well, today for me wasn't about time -- it was about meeting up with all the fab C25K'ers and having a blast.
The pic is Vicky, me and Juju before the start line. Juicyju did make aVLOG so watch out for that as it co-stars "yours truly" as we traversed the mighty course!
Thanks for reading. Lets do it all again next year. It can be our "annual" meet up gig!!
Yer pal
Dan