My day at Race for Life.

Now to "My" day. My local "Race" was Inverness and heres how it felt for me on the day:

We arrived in good time, infact an hour and a half before the warm up was due to start, but we are very glad we did as not long after we arrived it started getting really busy. It was, as I had been told, an amazing atmosphere, as everyone there is there for the same reason with the same goals, raising as much cash for Cancer Research UK as possible.

When I stepped out of the car to get my bag out I had a wonderful suprise, my niece and her husband had travelled all the way up from the Borders to support me, so I had plenty of support including my Mum my Sister in law and a friend of my mum's, it was lovely to have familiar faces there.(For those of you who don't know me, I did this race this year in memory of my brother who died of cancer at the end of October last year).

After an short hold up, we began the warm up, the biggest aerobics class I've been in with over 3000 people. We were then separated into "Runners" and "Walkers", I had to go with the runners which felt very strange considering I couldn't jog for more that 1 minute 9 weeks ago, and we headed for the start line. The tape went up and we were off, the sun was now shining and the heat, for me, was terrible and I thought at that time I wouldn't make it, but just calmed myself down and took it easy when I needed too. We are very lucky where we are and the whole run was beautiful, running along the side of the River Ness. (I'm the one adjusting my headphones!)

I was amazed at the amount of children and young girls taking part in the race and they all were amazing, running alongside there mums/aunties/friends, and whizzing past me I may add! Reading the back signs on everyones t-shirts is very emotional, I liked the ones that simply said "I race for life for..... those who can't"

Anyway back to the race, we had so many lovely spectators clapping and cheering us on, it was a real boost to the system, it felt strange, but good. Coming down that last 1/2 mile or so seemed to take forever, you can see the finish line but its far away, but we carried on heading for the "sacred" blue inflatable finish line, my family were there cheering for me as I crossed it in 35 mins and 32 seconds! Unbelievable (for me), I had hoped for around 40 mins, so I was well below that, so the 9 weeks of training paid off.
Would I do it again? too right I would, and I am looking forward to next year where my daughter is coming with me - although my niece is trying to persuade me to do a 10k with her next October - we'll see.

In the end, my friend and I raised over £1600 - and feel very VERY proud. Now...what are you waiting for? click those links in the post below and do something special for yourself and others. Remember you can walk if you want or sprint in with the front runners, its your day to enjoy as you wish.