Mam did her first run of week 9 this morning but, as I had a job interview, mine was delayed until later. Much later. 'Hubby-to-Be taking me to lunch then having me walk around town in my interview heels' later (dearly love that man but he's yet to learn that heels are for being seen in, not walking) so, there I was, after insisting he drive me home because no, I cannot run in interview clothing, complete with shape-wear and still in the heels - I'm pretty certain he was joking about that though.
Entering the park and Sarah telling me how she was tearing up at the thought of this being our last week, Cecelia pointed out a group of teenagers. I had utterly forgotten that it's half-term week and where the park would normally be empty...well, let's say it wasn't, OK?
"Oh well, no choice but to leave. Don't want the teenagers laughing at you" Cecelia innocently inspected her fingernails
"Bugger you," I told her, "I waited all morning for this run and I'm not deferring it another day"
"You'll end up on youtube under 'fat b*tch tries jogging in local park lol funny vid!' or something similar"
"I'll ask the mods to take it down and besides, I'm running, they're not, I'm exercising, they're standing in groups blowing what I hope is cigarette smoke at each other. Guess who's got the high ground here?"
And so, brisk walk over and teenager-woes behind me, I started running, still trying, after 9 weeks, to keep my pace slow and steady and not speed up. Was it easy? Nope. not in the slightest as I had to, once again, keep telling myself that it was only a few minutes at a time but eventually it did end and was I proud of myself? Oh yes. 100 times over. If anyone had told me 9 weeks ago that I'd be able to run for 30 minutes or that I'd enjoy it, I would have laughed and asked if something hit them on the head.
2 more runs and then I'll be a graduate and able to do the Rainbow Run with confidence