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I ran the race for life in Bristol today... it was a great experience!
I have to admit that I wasn't keen when my daughter Stephanie mentioned it a few months ago. She wanted to run, but as she's 14 she had to have an adult to enter the race with.
She didn't know if she wanted to run with me or on her own so when I realised that a lot of the race was on grass I suggested that we run together, because I'm not so fast on grass. However, there were just so many people running that it was impossible to stay together and I decided that I may as well just go on and race it, which Steph was happy with too.
As we'd started quite a way back in the field I had a lot of weaving through to do but it felt great to be constantly flying past so many people. Incidently I was the only person with a club vest on, and felt quite conspicuous with it while most other people were wearing something pink. But then I saw some fellow club members marshalling and they obviously spotted me easily by my club vest and I got a cheer
So... back to the flying... I'd made up so much of the field that by the last half mile there were few runners around me. I finished in 23.34, which considering that the first half mile was literally stop and start due to the amount of runners, I was quite pleased. The marshal at the end said that I would be roughly in the top 40 runners, out of 8000 entrants (runners and walkers) aint bad!
The winner finished about 3 minutes ahead of me so if I'd have started at the front I could have done quite well
Anyway... what the title of this blog refers to is the fact that I was SHOCKED by how many runners who had entered this RACE FOR LIFE, in aid of a CANCER CHARITY, but were actually openly SMOKING around the start!!
Ok they were probably not regular runners but I mean please... we're supposed to be helping the statistics, not adding to them. I'm not against people smoking...if that's what they want to do to themselves but even if I did smoke, I wouldn't even have the gall to smoke at an event like that.
I have to admit that I wasn't keen when my daughter Stephanie mentioned it a few months ago. She wanted to run, but as she's 14 she had to have an adult to enter the race with.
She didn't know if she wanted to run with me or on her own so when I realised that a lot of the race was on grass I suggested that we run together, because I'm not so fast on grass. However, there were just so many people running that it was impossible to stay together and I decided that I may as well just go on and race it, which Steph was happy with too.
As we'd started quite a way back in the field I had a lot of weaving through to do but it felt great to be constantly flying past so many people. Incidently I was the only person with a club vest on, and felt quite conspicuous with it while most other people were wearing something pink. But then I saw some fellow club members marshalling and they obviously spotted me easily by my club vest and I got a cheer
So... back to the flying... I'd made up so much of the field that by the last half mile there were few runners around me. I finished in 23.34, which considering that the first half mile was literally stop and start due to the amount of runners, I was quite pleased. The marshal at the end said that I would be roughly in the top 40 runners, out of 8000 entrants (runners and walkers) aint bad!
The winner finished about 3 minutes ahead of me so if I'd have started at the front I could have done quite well
Anyway... what the title of this blog refers to is the fact that I was SHOCKED by how many runners who had entered this RACE FOR LIFE, in aid of a CANCER CHARITY, but were actually openly SMOKING around the start!!
Ok they were probably not regular runners but I mean please... we're supposed to be helping the statistics, not adding to them. I'm not against people smoking...if that's what they want to do to themselves but even if I did smoke, I wouldn't even have the gall to smoke at an event like that.