Amaaaazing! I ran all of it, no stopping and the odd sprint here and there. What an experience!
The first kilometre - my niece breaks into a sprint and I have to call her to slow down but she's intent on spending her energy at once and is walking within a few minutes. I catch up. She tries to run at my pace for a bit and we wave at the paps while strangers applaud us. A woman dressed as a unicorn jockey overtakes us as we overtake a heavily pregnant woman (yes really).
The second kilometre - I start to hit my stride as my niece decides to walk again, my running pace seems to be the same as her walking. Super. She comments negatively about how much longer there is to go (kids eh?!) so I try encouraging her to think positively, she is SUCH a teenager!
The third kilometre - I've started to notice messages on people's backs and it gets tough until I see "my Dad, who kicked cancers butt" which made me smile. My niece is now moaning that we're ONLY half way and there's AAAAAAGES left I so tell her to shut her face and get positive or I promise I will embarrass her for the rest of the course! I spent the next 5 minutes singing "Call Me Maybe" out of breath, out of tune and out loud (complete with actions) until she said we can do this, not long left!
The fourth kilometre - as I pass the 3k marker I am pleased I have passed my distance PB. This section is straightforward, jusct running slow to allow the whingey walker to keep up and speeding up when she decides to sprint!
The last kilometre - is a blur. My legs are lead and I'm growling to dig deep on the small-but-significant-in-the-last-leg inclines.. This is tough but so very rewarding. As we turn the last corner the Whingey One is suddenly in a hurry and I don't see her for dust, cheeky! But in truth I don't care; I am proud of her for being this side of the barrier regardless of effort or attitude and besides I just ran 5k non-stop in 42 minutes, a crowd including my kids are cheering me on and I get a bottle of water, brioche, a banana and a medal to celebrate. This bit is such a rush, I. Want.to.do.it.again. Seriously.
Best of all I was putting my 2 year old to bed later that day (it was yesterday) and I asked him if he had a nice day, he said "Mummy running, you did it" with a big smile on his face and my heart melted.
So, there's a 10k in Bournemouth in October...