A bit behind time but never the less important writing.....
So this year, I had every faith that, for the first time in my life, my running would good enough to try the RFL 5k. Some time back in Feb/March, Amy and I made a verbal agreement to run together (surely I was mad anyway as she’s such an effortless, graceful runner!). Sadly, lo and behold, C put the kibosh on that. How ironic! SO, with plans up in the air as I didn’t know where I’d be with treatment etc, I sat tight to see what unravelled as the weeks went by. It soon became clear that, due to the op, my running was suffering greatly so my participation was looking quite unlikely – plus, it so happened that the RFL fell after my first chemo dose. Rats!
Meanwhile, since my diagnosis, five lovely friends in the village had decided to take part in events: Katherine and Ber were training to run the RFL and Tash, Becky and Jane intended to walk the course. In the end, all the girls decided to team together on the day and walked as a gang with their daughters, Tilly’s school buddies: Teya, Sophie, Ellie, Niamh, Daisy and her 3 year old sister Lauren (who bounded along!).
So, my plan was to wait to see how I felt on the day – hence, Tilly and I decided it best she came to watch rather than participate. 10 days post dose, I’m happy to say that I managed to participate thanks to the gentle pace and a well-timed break in the heatwave. Plus, Tilly, Lila, Wayne and Amy’s family (Amelia, Jemima and Ed) were cheering us on at the finish line. It was an honour, a delight and an overwhelmingly emotional experience. I'm so glad I achieved it with such special friends, little 3-5 year old legs and with so much fun and laughter involved. What an amazing team – and the same goes for the thousands of dedicated women committed to making a significant change to the future of this god awful disease. As the saying goes.....'C, we’re coming to get you!'
This year, sponsorship went out of the window as I wasn’t able to commit until just before the event but, next year, I'm SO running this and I'm SO coming to get you for sponsorship – eeek, watch out! (Any running companions are most welcome.)
I’m happy to say that Ber and Katherine didn't waste their training efforts – they ran a 5k race the day before in a staggering time of 31 mins. Such a great effort for first time runners. I'm also so pleased to report that Amy teamed up with Pol (proper pro's) and ran the RFL in just under 30 mins - a fantastic effort. Go girls, go. Love love love!
So, watch out peeps, when all this sitt is behind me/us, there could be talk of a triathlon next year, ha! Oh, hold on, it’s actually already started… Although, I have a lot of catching up to do with the runners… yikes!
So, for now, one for all - and all for one.....
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Thank you for taking the time to travel this journey with me.