Well, what a day its been, get yourself a drink, pull up a chair and I'll tell you all about it my running family ...
Today was to be my W9R3 run, my graduation from C25K run, and I had planned to do it in style with a 5K Park Run. But, my biker friends put a bit of pressure on me with a time constraint that in the end was easily achievable ...
My friends and I are part of a group called the MancRiders ... Manchester based, so that's where the name comes from, and each year we run a little internal competition a bit like a scatter rally where we have to go places and photograph them in exchange for points ... but we do this in aid of a charity, this year our chosen charity was FACT, the support and assist families with Autistic Children, this year we raised over £815 and presentation of the check and photoshoot, you guessed it .... was today ... I managed to convince them to put the time back half an hour to 11:30 to give me a fighting chance ...
The clock went off at 7:00 and I got straight out of bed at 7:20 
, had breakfast of sausage sarnies with brown sauce and glass of juice, letting that settle and convert to lovely energy while I got my running gear on ... I planned on the making the 57 mile trip to FACT on the bike so also got my bike gear on, and packed some jeans and a t-shirt for after the run ...Got tot the park, parked up, and got stripped off, not such a revelation as I was already wearing my running gear. 8:45, time for my warmup session, a bit of fast walking and a bit of light jogging with some stretching to get all the joints lubricated and the muscles warmed up and ready to go ....
After a brief talk with the all the 1st timers, about the course and the scanning procedure ... "did you all bring your bar-codes" ... Damn it, I knew I had forgotten something, I wasn't on my own though, another girl had left hers .. next time we will still be 1st timers ...
9:00, the gun goes off and we are away, I was amazed [used that word a lot today] by the number of runners, I was towards the back, another fault that I will rectify next time, too many people walking and blocking the way with prams and dogs, nothing wrong with that, I was just in the wrong place within the peloton ...
Once we got going I was able to move forward, a lap of the boating lake and out onto the horse racing circuit ... the longest in Northern Europe ... the lady on MapMyRun interjected .. Time 6:23, Distance 1K, wow, I was doing OK even with the hoo-ha at the beginning ... keep it steady I could hear Michael saying (I didn't have a commentary today, just music ...) 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4 MapMyRun butted in again, Time 13:37, distance 2k, nice one, keep going, it didn't seem very long before I got the 3k time, 19:20, but I'd turned the corner, and was facing "the hill". OMG, its a right drag, must be getting on for 700m/800m, keep going, keep the cadence the same, take slightly shorter strides, just like fell walking, I was up and over the hill, and approaching the boating lake, Time 25:40, Distance 4k, keep going, just keep going ... anti-clockwise around the boating lake, the pack was well thinned out, and I was able to up my pace a bit now we were on the level and the surface was tarmac ... rounding the last corner the end was in sight, time for a last burst of energy .... through the finishing funnel, collect a tag and get it scanned, not much point in that though - didn't have my bar-code ... I did shut down MapMyRun at the right time though so that's reasonable accurate.
I did it, I'd completed my first ever Park Run, a solid 5k run, no stopping, I barely altered my pace, save the last 1k. All in all I was a resounding success. and my time showed that I had run for 32:17, so, smashed my 34:01 sponsored 5K, and did it in one continuous run. I was well chuffed.
Right, back to the bike .... changed out of these running tights and top, in the car park ... gave everyone passing a shot at my white knickers, no fancy pants today ... gear on and I was off to Manchester ... time was just after 10, and my satnav said I would be there at 11:04, excellent timing ...
As it was I was there at 11:05, but still 20 minutes before everyone else. Didn't bother me I was on cloud 9 ...
Presentation over... a quick blast down the A628, Woodhead Pass, and back home. I was home by 2:00, and decided that as I had some shoes to take back for a refund, I would go to York and have a couple of hours of retail therapy ... so off I went, took the shoes back to Long Tall Sally, bought a Teal coloured velvet t-shirt, scrummy, and treat myself to coffee and cake ... small one mind, didn't want to waste all the hard work that went into getting the scales below 15st.
Shopping completed, I made my way home, and had tea, some pasta, followed by a lovely fruit salad, and a Gin and Tonic ... and some quiet reflection looking back on the events of the last couple of days.
I was in a dark place not too long ago, and most of you are aware of my path, back into the light, not everyone has access to people like you, you are a special bunch, you build us up, support us with the right words of encouragement, and that's just the running part of it. You have also been there for me, and my special journey. I wanted to thank you all for the support and friendship that you have shown me over the last few weeks, it really did help, it really did. Right place, right time, and to further echo that, there was an e-mail flyer from the Park Run people, it landed in my inbox yesterday evening, as I was taking to a mate about how my progress is being stifled at work by not being able to move on with my life until I retire ... In the e-mail as a link to a job, working for Park Run, which I have just applied for ... the running community just keeps on giving ... maybe ....
So, that's it, I have completed my 9 weeks, all that remain is for me to add my name to this months graduates ... and take my position on the top step for my brief moment of glory ....
I thank you all ....
Christene .... XXXX
What a day - congratulations, of course, are in order, and when I got to the end and saw you've applied for a job with Park Run... ! SO, so happy for you x
And I thought it was just the wind..
Stoopid MapMyRun
Today's the day
Today's run
3rd run of the week! made it withc25k+
