Sisters are Doing it for Themselves!!

Sunday 17th June 2007- what a day!!

I wanted to write this posting on Sunday after the Race for Life and then again on Monday, but every muscle ached in my body including my fingers!!!!!!! So this is the first time that I have felt physically and mentally astute enough to put pen to paper and the first time since sunday that it doesn’t hurt to cough!!

As you know I decided to up the ante in my training schedule some weeks back and actually attempted to do some running. A week before the race I managed to run 4km with my personal trainers in tow. It’s fair to say that it nearly killed me!! As I lay horizontal on my doorstep awaiting P, who was in charge of the door key, to let me in (I certainly didn’t have the strength to find the hole let alone unlock the door!), my lovely Sun ran towards me, arms open and gave me a big cuddle. I believe it may have been the shortest cuddle in history, as he instantaneously leapt backwards, obviously physically repelled, shouting “HOT MUMMY HOT”. And that is how I remained for the rest of the day….very hot, sweating and red faced!! And I failed to do any further exercise for the rest of the week, citing a bad back and aching Achilles for my lack of effort!!

I knew prior to the race that Rosemary, Jane and Liz would be walking around Lydiard on the day and I truly struggled with whether or not to join them. In the name of camaraderie I really should have joined the Sisterhood of the Do La La’s and walked loud and proud with them around the course, re-living our journey together and crossing the finishing line as one happy band of sisters, but I had trained to run it, as miserable as it was and I felt that I would be letting myself and others down if I didn’t at least try.

It was with more than a hint of anxiety that I headed off towards the blue flag which would lead the runners to the start line, knowing that my friends were heading to the pink flag with the rest of the walkers and that that would be the last I saw of them until the race was over. And to be honest I felt just a little lonely and insignificant amongst the many women who had turned out to run the race. But the day wasn’t about my feelings and the heartfelt messages carried by each woman on the back of her tee-shirt was a stark reminder of the number of people who are affected by cancer every day. There were women who were running for 3 generations of cancer victims within their family; mum, grandmother and great grandmother, women running for their young children, whose hairless photos were emblazoned upon the rear of the runners’ tee-shirts, women running for loved ones who had passed away as a result of cancer and women running for those who had survived this frightening and unpredictable disease. Hundreds of women had congregated at Lydiard Park on that Sunday morning and stood side by side with one thing in common; the desire to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

The atmosphere was one of positivity with an electric energy buzzing throughout the park which was bought on by the belief that by racing together we could really help to knock out cancer once and for all. Although it was not spoken, it felt as if every woman there was willing her fellow racers on to finish the course and collect their medals.

Standing at the start line with hundreds of other women, we began to count ourselves down to the start of the race.

I took a MP3 player with me on the morning and was convinced that the right music would help my running rhythm. I was determined to start off with an empowering track that would really spur me on and make me feel proud that I was taking part. I cued my chosen song ready for the off and then managed to hit the play button by mistake. 10, 9, 8, the count down had started and was led by an announcer on a large sound system…..oh no, stop the track… 7, 6…..Oh Gawd, where’s the back button…. 5…..there it is, rewind it, quick….4, 3…. come on, cue it Jules, cue it. You dont want to be faffing about with it when the horn goes…2…. at last, there it is…. 1, GOOD LUCK LADIES. Then: “I am what I am, I am my own perfect creation, lalalala”, blasting in my ears. I tucked my MP3 player into my lucky sports bra (in truth my only sports bra) and off I went.

You will be pleased to know that it only took 4km for me to get in the swing of it and the last 1km was relatively a piece of cake!!!

After only 500m my calves were screaming at me to stop.

At 1km I nearly died of hysterical laughter when I realised that I had only run 1km, when in fact I was sure that I was already half way there.

At 2km I thought my head was going to explode and convinced that I was now sporting a purple complexion, awaited a Race Marshall to pull me from the race before calling St John’s Ambulance to my aid.

At 3km I wasn’t sure if I was having a heart attack or if my lungs were going to spontaneously combust.

At 3.5km I saw P cheering me on and even came for a little jog with me for moral support.

At 4km the Race Marshalls were applauding and shouting “It’s just round the field now, you’re nearly there.” And it was! There in sight was the finishing line and I ran slowly to complete the race (actually I ran as fast as my legs would let me, which by that stage was incredibly slowly!!)

Coming through the finishing line was quite an emotional experience. It felt quite solitary, finishing and then being directed round to collect my medal and bottle of water. And although there were many people crossing the line with me there was really nobody that I could say “f**k me, I’m knackered” to.

That feeling didn’t last long though and having pushed my way through the crowds at the finishing line, I saw the smiling faces of P and Sun and I suddenly felt extremely proud, not just because I had finished the Race but proud that P was so proud of me.

So there you have it. I came in, in about 43 minutes and all the while wearing my crap trainers. I don’t think I’ll be making the 2012 Olympics unless it’s selling programmes at the door, but I got round and am more than happy with the result.

A week and a half ago, I vowed never to run again but having completed the Race for Life, I am now not so sure. I would secretly like to improve on my time and even maybe train for a 10km!!! OMG I’ve become an adrenaline junkie…who’d have thought it???

With the task in hand done, this should be my last posting, which I actually feel quite despondent about. As Rosemary has said in her last post if you would like us to continue, do leave us a comment and I’m sure we can come up with some more rubbish for you to read. Alternatively, if you have another sponsored event in mind that Rosemary and I can train for (please make it physical and not a sponsored silence!!) then let us know your ideas. We look forward to hearing from you.

So long for now.

Julie ;0)