Two down, 10 to go! This morning I was up early (6.30) to get ready to get running in Richmond, London. It was a cold start to the day, and I was a little concerned that my short sleeved top might have been a bit optimistic. I had my gloves in my bag however, and as it’s always my hands that suffer I felt it was probably ok. In the end I wore them for about 40 minutes and was glad of them. And I was very glad I wasn’t wearing long sleeves or I would have been way too hot!
There was a long queue for the loo but at least they were clean. The warm up was fun – and it certainly helped beat away the chill – I had packed my jacket by that point. The start was in waves, which was a good idea as almost 800 runners pounding along the Thames towpath en masse on a Sunday morning might not have endeared us to the local residents. The route took us across the fields of the Old Deer Park to the path at Richmond Lock. Turn left, and along the path past Ham House (see post from 2 weeks ago!), past Teddington Lock and weir, almost into Kingston.
Then we turned left again, and ran through a residential area near the river. Not as bad as it sounds, as the verge at one point was covered in purple crocuses. Very pretty. The sun was quite strong by now, and I was wishing I had my sunglasses or a hat! There were 2 loops of this which was ok, because there was lots to look at – trees, river, boats, birds, dogs, flowers.
On the second loop round I got chatting to a fellow runner, who said he was training for the Manchester marathon in April. See that guy above in the green top? That’s Will. What a lovely person – at the end I caught up with him, passed on the details of my fundraising efforts – and lo and behold – half an hour later he and his wife Steph had very generously donated £30 to JDRF. I was very touched by this fantastic generosity of a stranger. I will be looking out for you, Will and Steph, in Manchester! Good luck to you both!
My legs were fairly dead by the end, and I got slower and slower. But hey! I finished, and my official time was 2 hours 1 minute, which is fine with me! The medal isn’t much to write home about – it’s going to take some doing to beat the Start Me Up one from January. But I got 2 bananas and a Kitkat – which didn’t last long enough for the photo 😉
So far so good. Even though my legs and feet are feeling a bit sore right now I am sure I will recover soon. The next run is a trail run in the Chilterns which will be a new adventure for me.
I’m raising money for JDRF to fund research into a cure for Type 1 diabetes – please follow this link to my fundraising page.
And remember – I am doing this all year so there’s plenty of time to help me reach my target! Thank you for reading, and thank you for your support.
Eat Cake And Run 