Running Woman Part 7 - I did it!!

Let's get all the drama out of the way at the beginning shall we? None of this slow build up, no sense of tension, no "did-she-didn't-she" nonsense. I was planning on doing that but quite frankly I'm a bit of a smug git at the moment so instead I shall just say,

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I TOTALLY RAN THE RACE FOR LIFE!!!

Three cheers for me. For she's a jolly good fellow and all of that malarkey.

I was struck down by a wicked bad cold a few days before the race and I am still very phlegmy and full of snot at the moment but as if I was going to let that get in my way. And my shin splints also made an unpleasant and un-wanted return but I knew that that might happen and I knew that I would run on them regardless and deal with the pain later.

The night before the race I had every bad dream you could possibly have that was running or race related. I dreamed that I didn't get there on time, that I couldn't find my team mates, that I went to the wrong place, that I didn't have my shoes - the list is endless, you name it, I had a panic about it in my sleep.

The Person had come over to see me run (first time I've seen him in 5 weeks, long distance relationships suck balls but that's a whole other topic for discussion) and he knew not to try and engage me in conversation the morning of the race but to let me wander about and look nervous and not really say much. In case you were wondering what I look like when I'm nervous, this photo will show you:

See? Worried.

I had no reason to be nervous, I knew I could run 5k after all, it's just all the hype and excitement that gets you going I think. In the end up it ended up being the easiest 5k I ever ran, it wasn't the fastest but nor was it the longest, it just didn't feel as long as my practice runs did. Maybe because I was just running about, following the pack and getting caught up in the atmosphere.

Unfortunately we were dingbats and forgot to time ourselves properly. The clock hit 37 minutes as we crossed the line but I reckon we were a good 3 minutes if not more getting to the start line so we've put a ball park figure of 35 minutes which is about standard for us. What's annoying is that we actually felt like we could have run faster but it's incredibly hard to pace yourself when there's 3 of you running, I think you err on the side of caution.

Plus we had a nightmare at the beginning of the race trying to find a pace that suited us and allowed us to dodge round people. If you know that you can't jog 5k please please please do not put yourself in the joggers group, just wait and go with the walkers. It was unbelievable how many people were walking after about 200m of the course - GET OUT OF MY WAY. We decided that should we run it next year we'll put ourselves in the runners group - we didn't do that because they said to go in that if you were planning to run it in 20 minutes or less (erm not so much) but in hindsight we should have just put ourselves in the back of that group and then we'd at least have had free ground ahead of us.

I was beyond pleased with myself at the end of the race (even if my shin wasn't, it's absolutely fine to run on but not long after stopping running he starts up a pretty tremendous racket) and didn't really know what to do with myself. The Person and I went out for lunch and it was lovely but all a little anti-climactic. I wanted to yell in people's faces "I just ran the Race for Life and I know it's only 5k but it's a really big deal for me!" but I decided against doing. For one thing, that just takes too long to say.

But I am pleased and I would love to do a 10k next but I'm not making any promises. I'm still unsure how to proceed with my shin problem - whether to ignore it and cope with the pain or just try something else to keep fit. I'm really not focussing on that though, instead I shall bask in my triumph.

This is my happy face. It's not particularly photogenic. It's definitely not attractive. But it sums up how I was feeling pretty well.