Spectator at the Race For Life

Saturday: I took the kids with me to watch the Race for Life in the local park (no run for me today). It was rather strange to be a spectator and not a participant, and as I watched the runners set off, my feet were itching to join in! The atmosphere was great, it was incredible to see so many running for Cancer Research UK, their reasons for running pinned to their backs. My daughter commented on so many being for runners' mums. The race had lots of walkers and it really was lovely to see so many happy people, enjoying themselves, and for such a good cause. I spotted a runner in a fetch.com vest but she sped away before I could yell my support, though I continued to clap on the others :o) The kids weren't as enthusiastic about it as I expected, a downright pain a lot of the time, but I was undeterred in my aim to watch the runners. I was a little overcome by how proud I felt to see fellow runners cross the finishing line. I didn't know anyone there yet I identified with them so strongly. It had been a job trying to find the finishing line (not marked as clearly as it should have been, I think) but it was a joy to get there eventually. I didn't stay for as long as I wanted, the kids were playing up too much, but I was glad I went. Although these races are generally not competitive and are filled probably with more walkers than runners, today reminded me of why I run, because it's about fun, it's about enjoyment. It can be easy to lose track of that, I felt that a short time ago. I wish I had taken part today but I wasn't too down about it, no point really, and I truly did enjoy watching other runners. I reached an important decision, deciding on following the half marathon programme as advised by greattrainer.org, and this begins Monday (rest day). A 14 week programme leading neatly to the big race in September, I will be receiving reminder texts before every training session. I felt more comfortable with following times rather than mileage, and it felt more doable than the programme offered by runners world. The application for the race finally arrived, which I plan to send off on Monday. At the end of the day, the feet were rather sore and achey from the trip to the park. I applied a great deal of vaseline over the blisters and all over the feet before sleeping, as I planned to run the next day, thinking about 60mins to start off the new month.