First ever non school-related running event...complete :)

Nearly 4 months of training leading up to the race for life, running 3 times a week (most of the time) reaching a 5k personal best of 30.59 at the parkrun a couple of weeks ago. Was it worth it you ask?...totally!! It was race day on Sunday and to be perfectly honest I was genuinely nervous. We all really wanted a pb and I was desperate to say I'd done it in less than 30mins, but I didn't think I was upto it yet and dreaded the disappointment of not quite making it on the day.
Typically it was a roasting hot, muggy day...just what you want for running :-/ We all met up and followed the crowds. People had turned up in the thousands to run,jog and walk to raise money for cancer research and there were some tear-jerking stories and reasons for participation pinned to peoples backs. We decided to join the joggers, thinking that it might be nicer for us to be overtaking people than being overtaken constantly! However, when we started the race, we weren't sure if we regretted our decision...it was chaos! There were people sprinting one minute and walking the next, which caused a few near collisions and we must have spent the first 2k weaving in and out of everyone trying not to get tripped up. Getting personal bests seemed like a bit of a pipe dream though as we couldn't find enough space to pick up the pace at all. It settled down after a while and finding a bit more leg room was manageable but I didn't want to push too hard, too soon and not be able to finish the race running! So I kept a steady pace until I saw the 4k sign and then I tried to pick it up a little bit, saving as much energy as I could for a sprint finish. The whole run didn't feel spectacular, or very fast at all so when I crossed the finish line after 27.25 I was in shock but total relief!! I had completed my own challenge and not even just by a little bit! I had smashed my pb by 3 and a half minutes and as you can see, completed 5k in under 30mins for the first time!! Helena, Fi and Chrissie all got under 30 minutes and Emma achieved personal best as well at 31mins! I'm so very proud of all of the 'couch potatoes' and I reckon we have officially outgrown our name ;-)

Time to race for life!

So the time has come for the race for life tomorrow... 5k around sheepmount/bitts park. Now it has come to my attention since we've started running that in the running world, 5k is generally seen as a short leisurely warm up run, a distance for when you're short on time but want to get out running anyway. So I feel I need to stress the point again...this has taken 3 months of training, a lot of red,sweaty faces, some injuries, some frustration but mainly a sense of achievement. When we started out I struggled to 'run' (I use the term 'run' very lightly, as it was definitely not much faster than walking pace at the beginning and its not a great deal faster now!)for 1minute, the thought of running for 5 worried me, and now we are running more than half an hour! This is genuinely the most I have ever run in my life and I'm proud of myself and of Chrissie, Fi, and Helena...we stuck with it and we are finally putting our training to use! So the last time I blogged I had reached 4.7k in half an hour. Since then I have been going to an event called Parkrun, which is a free 5k run every Saturday morning, which is timed and results are logged and published later that day. Its a great event and they regularly get over 100 people turning up to take part. It was on one of these that I have got my current PB for 5k...30.59! Which means it has come right down to the day to see if I can make it in less than 30 minutes and with the weather forecast saying tomorrow will be hot, hot, hot...a challenge it will be! Check back tomorrow for the results! :-)