Thursday Morning Run

Hello blog readers.

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain!  So much for our summer!  I our summer fell last Saturday, just for the royal wedding!  It didn't matter, I was going out running no matter what!  I had a sh......... shed load of weight to get rid of!  It's going to be a difficult summer!  There were only the four of us at the rec for group 1.  The other two groups were low in numbers too!  I think the faster groups amalgamated to make a super group!

I had noticed on our Tuesday run that the Rhododendrons were out so I really wanted to run down there this morning!  But with the rain, I wasn't so sure that everyone would be willing and keen to go, but I was wrong!  They were eager to get in the woods.  The rain had hopefully not turned the floor on the woods into a mud bath again!  Hopefully it will just all run off!  And so it did!  It was tacky in some places, but mostly runnable!  The midges were still there, but hopefully if we ran fast enough they will not be able to land!

So I took the four of us, that's me, Tracy, Wendimoo and Carole, for a nice steady paced run, turning left to run along the bottom path by the rail lines.  With just the four of us running along we seemed to be keeping a nice right group, mainly because we were all listening intently to Wendimoo!  Oh my goodness, we really have missed her, but now she is back, back to when she belongs! Running along listening to her just helps make the miles disappear, not only that, but Tracy was so intent on listening that she was keeping up!

We ran along by the river, and then up Goss Hill.  Ok, so I was hyped up, I had the music still wringing in my ears, but that hill, that blimmin hill!  One day, I will run all the up it again!  Yup, that's right, I didn't manage it, not this time.  Maybe next time!

We had a couple of other little undulations as we ran along the top of the woods.  In my mind was Rhododendron Walk.  I was looking forward to going down there!  We had to run all along the top and the turn right to run down towards the Woodmans Cottage, I wonder if this will be the year that I spot him again, or was he really a figment of mine....and Michelle's imagination!  Just before we get to the cottage however, we took the path that must be the most prettiest in the woods.  It's all in bloom, hundreds and hundreds of big pink flowers, lining a small corridor in the woods.  It's simply sublime!  Carole has never seen this, I really love showing off this part of our woods, especially when it's in full bloom!  We had to have a selfie of course!

This path leads us to the middle path and that leads to Dog Poo ally!  All over, all done, a great run with the girls.  I was going to try and get to the second of the 'core sessions in the park'  but guess what......Im off on holiday again!  So packing and washing and packing was my core training!

Here's our geeky stats.

Club Run - Back In The Woods!

Hello blog readers.

This evening was the first run, for me anyway, leading for an evening run in the woods!  And it was just magical!  I love the woods! It feels like a totally different run when it's done in the evenings, I don't know why, maybe it's the ambiance, with the sun going down, different sounds, the leaves on the trees making the woods just that bit shadier than it is in the mornings when I'm with the gang.  The air feels nicer, it deffo smells better in there than on the roads with smell of the traffic assaulting your nose!  Well, I guess Dog Poo Ally does have it's own....charms!  But breathing in the clean, tree filtered air, filling your lungs, as you run up the hills......undulations that are in the woods, is just what is needed after the most lovely holiday over indulgence!

As I picked up Tracy I had some brill music playing, well I think it's brill, just to get myself totally hyped up to get a good run going this evening.  I am so into Delirious and playing on my CD when I picked up Tracy was The Sound of Silence!  This must be my favourite song of all time!  Seriously, I have fallen in love with this band just because of that song!  Full blast on my way to get Tracy, then the next song came on Never Wrong, this one really got me hyped up!  Yup, Never Wrong, I'm not taking crap, not from those hills, I was going to beat them, run up every one of them!!

We got to the rec, and I saw Steph, one of the physios from Kings, she said she was going to look at PWR when I saw her at the hospital, and he she was! She won't be joining us in group 1 though, she's a pretty fast runner, so I think she said she was going in group 10! I wasn't sure how many people were going to be joining us in our group, I had missed the first run after the Graduation last week, but I was hoped that those that came, did so again, or maybe they even moved up a group already!  I was really pleased to see them there for their second time since the graduation parkrun!

So our gave route speech, "We're in the woods today!" I told them, I think they were all pleased!  We went in through Dog Poo ally and then turned right to run up Birchwood hill, which is the right side path!  I kept going, along with the faster runners right till we got to the top.  I sent some of them around the little triangle, which only a couple of them did, before the sweepers got to us.  Our sweepers for this run was Tracy and K, and I do think Auriol stepped into lend a hand too!

I think everyone did pretty good, after we got to the top of  right path. It's a relatively flat ish run all the way to the top of the woods, just by the path that leads down to Dog Poo ally!  On the way to that point we had to stop passed by the Sun Dial, a memorial to William Willet, I thought it a great place to get a picture, here this is us, its about half way through our run.

Up to this point I think everyone was doing well.  I had run a tad harder in places, not intentionally, I just seemed to have warmed up and just enjoyed the running! I had to make sure kept a good eye on my Garmin.  I slowed down just a bit to make sure that I kept the group together, had some stops to have catch-up moments for the sweepers, which by then was being shared between Auriol, Tracy, K and Carole, they were doing a wonderful job to make sure that no-one gets left behind.

We ran all the way down Botley Bay lane to the little stream.  There we waited for the others, pretty daft really!  Water, warm day, hot sweaty bodies.....flying midges!  We were like a giant takeaway for the insects that night!

We got back to the rec, everyone looked really pleased with their run, going through the woods, will do that to anyone!  So much better than pavement pounding!

Geeky stats.

Petts Wood Runners - On Tour!

Hello blog readers

Freedom!

This blog is a good few days late, mainly because it happened while I was on holiday!  The Windy Island, otherwise known as Fuerto Ventura!  We arrived late on a Saturday, around 10 ish at our hotel, and what a beautiful hotel it was too!  So off course there was no running on that day!  It was also the day of our PWR Beginners Graduation, so I had missed that! But I was assured that they all did just so well, RefMichael and ZippySherry were there to guide them through it, as well as quite a few PWR members too.

So our first run, oh, sorry, I should have said, I was on holiday with J.J. and Kirsty and Glynis!  It was only me and J.J. running though, our first run wasn't until the Tuesday!  By that time however, there had been quite a bit of eating and drinking!  Well, when you are on an all inclusive holiday it's rude not to experience it all! So our first run we were both slightly hungover, and bellies full of two course breakfasts, lunches and dinners! Hmm, it was going to be tough!  We got up early, so before we had our two (or three) course breakfast, and walked down the steps towards this stunning beach.  We chose to run along the top path and then down to the shore line.  We decided to do about 3 miles, so just a nice group 1 distance, you know, a parkrun distance!  Perfect for the way we were both feeling.

I looked at the hill going down, and I looked towards where we were running too.  We were going to to run out for about 1.5 miles and then spin around and come back.  That should get us with in sight of a lighthouse.  Well, I couldn't see a lighthouse from the beginning of our run, I started to think "This is going to be a long hard slog!"  So with my full tummy, PWR top on and the determination of a gnat we set off!  Both of us knew it was going to be a struggle, but hopefully the wonderful location will just blot out all the bad bits, and if nothing else, it's still a great walk along the beach! 

I shall keep the sand out
of my toes, thank you!

There wasn't that many people about, there was evidence that some were about,  all the running shoe footprints in the sand!  And some barefoot runners too!  The sand was still wet for the receding sea, so it wasn't too bad to run on.  Not dry dusty sand, so our calves were not going to be complaining too much!  It was more difficult that I thought it was going to be, we walked/ran our way to 1.5 marker, I was quite pleased that by the time we got there we could actually see a light house!

See we did run on the
first one!

On our way back J.J. was telling me that the beach is actually quite frequented by the naturists!  Being early morning  I didn't think there would be anyone 'out' sun worshipping or swimming!  How wrong was I!  We just ran on by, "Morning" I said to this grey bearded chap "Morning, all right" he said in a Yorkshire type accent!

On our way back, on a quiet
lonely beach

We didn't run back up the path, we finished our 3 miler on the beach, but of course, as it was our first run out, we took time to enjoy the beach, to look at the sight and sounds and the little furry creatures that live on the beach!  J.J. decided that she wanted to run in the sea, so she whipped off her shoes and ran barefoot along the shore line!  Which is where that picture at the top of the page came from!  I think I captured the moment, the sense of freedom and fun!  I was a little less keen to get my feet wet, but I did in the end! I must admit, it did feel good!

We took our time on the run out and we took our time on our run back, and why not, look what we had to look at, not only that, if we had just ran all the way we would not have met these little fellas!

....but we also stopped and looked at
these lovely critters!

It was lovely, and quite frankly I was pleased with didn't have to run up the hill to finish our 3 miles!  Our run ended just a tad pass our hotel we were staying, with a route going back up to the back gate......it was stairs, but quite flat stairs.

However, on our second run of the holiday, on the Thursday morning, we seemed to do a lot more running and less walking, but my goodness it was blimmin tough!  Even more food, evening more beer, it was just ridiculous the amount I had eaten!  I am sure that I have put on over half a stone!  It's just as well I had forgotten to weigh myself before I left, so in mind, it is probably only just a pound!  That's what I am saying, that's all I have to say about that!

Our second run we took the same  route, there seemed to be a lot more people out running and walking along the beach, no naturists, just as well, I didn't want to be put off my breakfast!  It was a beautiful morning and I felt it was a lot warmer than on the previous Tuesday!  I was sweating!  J.J. seemed to be on fire though, she was ahead of me the whole time and I was playing catch-up!

This was us after we got to the top of the steps
after the first fun! #pettswoodrunnersontour

We had a different set of stairs to go up for a second run, a steeper set, all the way to the top!  Oh my goodness, the pain I felt in my legs, getting up those steps!  My thighs were crying out!  Well, ok, maybe a slight exaggeration again, but my legs were suffering!  I think if I had ran up the steps then the thigh crying would be totally on cue!

I was pleased that I managed to do two lots of running on such a stunning beach!

Geeky stats for our two runs, and as you can see, the first run was a lot slower, but then we did get some lovely photos!

We were faster on our second run, which is remarkable
considering we were even more full of food!

Last Beginners Week at the Rec 2018

Hello blog readers

On Saturday it was week 8 of the beginners spring course of 2018 the final week.  We had 21 people at the rec, all looking pretty amazed at what they have achieved.  There are still some others who couldn't make it for the last session in the park but they will be at Normans Park next Saturday for their graduation!  I unfortunately won't be.   I say unfortunately as if it's like I have something awful planned, but actually I haven't I am on holiday!  So it's all good really.  But RefMichael and ZippySherry will be there to take them through their paces, do the warm ups, drills and of course all the encouragement, supporting and cheering on!

Last Saturday though was the first time we were only doing 2 reps!  Two lots of 14 minutes running, with a 3 minute walking break!  Just a little taster of what they can do and will do to achieve their goal of running 5k, hopefully non stop, next Saturday!  I just know just by looking at some of these runners, some will run the whole of the parkrun, non stop, with ease, (getting a better time than me!) But then they have youth on their side! And there are others, like me, that like to make it look like we are working hard!  Showboating, let everyone see that it takes a special person to get up on Saturday mornings to go run around the park, that hundreds of thousands do, all over the world!  But, we are exceptional, from all those that are sat on the sofas of the world!

I can't tell you what an absolute pleasure it was been to see yet another group of athletes standing in front of me, all of them with smiles.  RefMichael reminded them that only 8 weeks ago when they first turned up they were worried about running for the whole of 60 seconds! And here they were, running for 14 minutes, non stop, up hill as well!  I was busy flitting between the first road and the top road, just to make sure that no one gets left behind, plus making sure that we all finish at the same time in the park! 

I can't believe that it's all over and done with for another few months!  It's back to parkrun for me on a Saturday,  but this Saturday is all about the graduates, they have all been told about the when they should all be meeting and by the chatter going on the facebook page they are all totally excited about it, and thrilled with themselves.

But now, my running buddies, those of you who have been reading my ramblings, now is when the real hard work begins.  The maintenance!  Keeping it going is the hardest thing, but around here we are lucky, because we have the bestest most inclusive running club around.  With 12 running groups running out on a Tuesday evening, there is a pace to suit everyone!  Not only that, Bromley parkrun is where most PWR's do their Saturday morning running, that and Hobblingwell, a slightly more challenging route! 

A fabulous course this Spring!  And now it's back to parkrun for me till next time, well not this Saturday though as I am off on Holiday! 

This is the Spring Graduation Picture (as I won't be there to get the actual one)

I Moved Up!

Hello blog readers.

So club run this evening and all is well!  In fact it were brilliant!  It was the first time that I have left my leaders bib at home and followed a leader instead! But, but.....not only that I moved up into group 2 as well!  The amazing thing was, Illustrious Leader was leading group 2 this evening!  It felt like old times!

In group 1 we have Charley back with us from injury.  She has already been trained as a LiRF and is raring to get back leading.  We are going to having two other leaders soon as well, which means that I will be able to move up three times a week!  Although I do love leading, especially when we have complete newbies and the graduates joining us for the first time, I do need to push myself too, try and keep up with the next group. 

I was a bit apprehensive, it's been a while since I have had to keep up with a leader, after all, in group 1 I could choose when to have a cheeky little break, or even send the faster runners on a little loop back.  But this evening it would have to be me keeping up with everyone, which is why I opted to be be no.2 sweeper with Selena.  No pressure then!  Actually there was no pressure! I felt really comfortable to be back in group 2 and was warmly welcomed, where as in group 1 I got "I thought you were moving up to group 2".  I really was looking forward to it!

So we started, out of the gate and turned left and then left at the end.  We were heading for Jubilee park!  It's so good to be going through the parks and woods again!  Everyone feels so much happier!  It seemed that most of the groups were at least touching on the woods this evening, even Charley was taking her group 1's just up the right hand path!

I was keeping pace with them pretty well, I was deffo wise to choose to be sweeper though, but I was so enjoying chatting away to Selena and Trish!  Trish was doing exceptionally well considering she had done a night time bike ride on Saturday of 100k! Typically english she said "My thighs are feeling it a bit"  You gotta love our British underwhelming responses! 

Running through Jubilee park and we saw one of the faster groups coming from a different path, and we pulled over to once side to let them run ahead of us as they merged on to the path we were running along.  We do look pretty awesome as a club when we are running along.  We even were spotted by a young lady when we ran passed the Bickley Manor, she was enquiring about joining us!  We carried on pass the manor and then turned left to run up Blackbrook lane!  IllustriousLeader likes to make our run as interesting as possible.  running all along Southborough lane just looks almost soul destroying, as it's such a boring road to run up.  Blackbrook lane is bad enough! So she had a plan to run through 'The dump' i.e. Southborough Park (the Old Boy and his mates all knew it as the dump) But it is a rather pleasant little park that we can cut right through and then were were ready to run up Chesham!  We were going to run to Shepperton road, and then to run along to Tudor Way and back.

I must admit, I was feeling it!  It was a good pace, one that I can do and have done on a parkrun when I am trying for a pb!  But it has been awhile.  I know I am going to enjoy moving up in group 2 when I am not leading!  Oh, yes, I will still be leading group 1, there's no doubt about that, I so enjoy leading and encouraging all our runners to do their best, get out of their comfort zone and to achieve the little goals they make!  With 4 of us very soon with LiRF for group 1, we can all enjoy leading once every 4 weeks with then pushing ourselves on other weeks, or just enjoy running in group 1 for a social!

It really was a brilliant group 2 run, I for one am so pleased to have Charley back, so that I can move on through the groups!  The banter, the chat, the friendships run through the entire club, not that I will ever get to group 12 or even up to group 5, but who knows where I could end up running! 

Geeky stats. The distance was a little more than expected for a group 2 but we did it!

Club Run - No Prosecco!

Hello blog readers

Club run this evening, and it seems like it's all back to normal, the marathoners are back with us in group 12, well sort of, they still met up at 7:45, but then they do runs some miles!  Everyone back, easing the way into their normal group runs, and just feeling like they are back at home!

The one thing about running, not matter what you are feeling, you feel better after a run!  You got a headache, go for a run! You feel fed up, got for a run! You got a bit of a chesty thing going on, go for a run......get it all out of you!  Well, if it is a real bad chesty thing, then maybe not go for a run!  But I think you all get my drift!  This is how some of my group 1's were feeling today.  I did have a route planned that didn't include the woods.  It was all pavement pounding, but we still had light, we could just touch on the woods and just breath in some of the fresh air!  That really would pick us all up.

So I quickly come up with plan B, in through Dog Poo ally, up the right side path and then out to Marlings Park road to do the little Kevington loop.  It has some hills in there, which I do like to throw into our route especially when it's move up week (I need to challenge some of my group so they know that next time they can move up to the next group) plus it's not a hugely long route, it's just about 3 miles!  Perfect really for our group 1.

So we left for the woods! Oh my goodness, how good does it feel to be running through here!  It's only just the edge of the woods, but still, if feels good.  And when you are feeling a bit.....meh.....there is just no better place to be than away from houses, cars, traffic, noise.  Running along with your buddies, chatting, breathing in that fresh air!  I love summer, me!  Can't wait till it's completely light evenings so we can do our whole run through the woods.

But, we did have to come out.  We came out just opposite the road that we needed, I didn't even know this little entrance was here, one of the other ladies showed me, so we had just a little bit extra of running through the woods.  We crossed over the road and then started our little loop.  The hill is always a welcome sight!......Pahh haaa.......Sorry, I do try and see if can convince myself that I like hills!

We attacked that little hill, we ran up it, we beat it and we didn't stop until we were at the top of it! That is the first hill done, and it's the biggest one of the route too.  The other littler (is that a word) hill is the one that we get to do 2 times! Yay! Flipping Nora, I'm going do dally!  I really seems as if I a loving these hills! But most of us ran up and down it twice.  Some of our group just ran up it and waited until the sweepers got to us, others ran up it twice, although as they were running down, they didn't actually realise that we were going to be running up it again!

We had a couple of the beginners with us, seeing how we work, the distance.  They were doing really well.  One of them was in the front with me the whole time, I can see her going into group 2 next week!  Oh and speaking of group 2......I will be running with them next week!  Charley is back running and is ready to get back to leading!  So I can start pushing myself too!  Not only that, but in a couple of months there will be couple more people that I can add on the group 1 rota!  On wards and upwards!

We ran back along Orpington road towards the roundabout and then all the way down to Crossways.  I looked at my Garmin.  We had .31 miles to do to reach our minimum distance of 3 miles!  Hmm, time was against us but I knew, all we had to do was to run all the into the park, that should get the mileage in!  We did it.  Just about the other side of the car park was the three mile mark, but I kept them running until we got outside the Pavilion.  We did 3.2 miles, 5k precisely!  Perfect.  A great run with all my buddies, J.J. and Carole, Kay and Tracy was sweeping, and Charley and her mum with all the others in between!  Love a club run, me!

Geeky stats.

A Little More Decorum!

Hello blog readers.

The Sunday just gone, that's 29th April, 2018, we ladies of Petts Wood got up early, put on make-up, dressed appropriately and joined our other running ladies on a coach, which arrived at Petts Wood to take us all to the inaugural North Kent Ladies 5 Miler, or as we of Petts Wood Runners like to say.....The Prosecco Run!

I must admit, the lure of a delicious glass of chilled Prosecco at the end of a 5 mile run was the hook line and sinker for me and I think for some of the other ladies too.  Not only that but we were told that it was a nice flat route, around the cyclopark at Gravesend!  Perfect! With that in mind, well the Prosecco at least, we all boarded the coach, we were all in good spirits, and that's before the Prosecco, did I mention there will be Prosecco?! We chatted at the back of the coach as we drove along to our destination at Gravesend.

We soon arrived at the venue, along with quite a few other club runners and some individual runners too!  This really is going to be fun!  We collected our numbers, pins and then went to collect our transponders!  This is a new word for me, I have never heard of 'transponders' before. Its a tag like thing (something almost resembling the thing naughty girls and boys might have to wear,  from the local constabulary).  This  tag however, will be recording our time when we finish the race, it's a bit bigger than your usual timing chip, a cumbersome looking thing, not at all pretty,  but once it was on your ankle it felt just fine.  Of course there was no other colours apart from the red and black, I think for next time we will have to accessorise accordingly!

This is just some of us!

Now as I have already said, when we all signed up it was mentioned that it was a nice flat route, around a traffic free, non muddy cycle park.  Well that wasn't quite the case, I should have realised of course, it's a cycle park.  A cycle park, for BMX'ing with little jumps and bumps. For the roadies there's a nice sharp corners to practise riding in peletons, on tarmac of course with a couple of little hills to put a slight pressure on the legs!  Yes there were hills, it has to have hills, it needs to be fun for cyclists!  We didn't know that when we had all signed up, booked our coach places. And besides, we were really excited about it now, there was no backing out!  My running buddies, J.J. Tracy, Auriol, K, Wendimoo and Carole from group 1 were all signed up,  also Illustrious leader, WendyLC, Hannah, Ruth, Petula and SingstarJo!  Oh my goodness there was such a bevy of beauties from our PWR.  So many of us, I can't even remember names!  I am not sure, but I think PWR could possibly be the most represented club there!  Maybe we should have had a ladies only mob match too! Anyway, for now, it's all about the Prosecco......I mean the first ever North Kent ladies only race.  It hadn't gone unnoticed by the boys however, (actually only Nigel and RefMike), they were all for coming along with placards and picketing the start line, claiming that it's sexist race!  Well they came along (not with placards of course, but to cheer us all on). It was just as well, because they were used, they were used as marshals,  One of them was on the start line, RefMike, he was seconded into marshaling the water station, which, unusually, was at the start, and Nigel was placed somewhere on route with a big pointy foam finger to cheer us all on!

Ref Michael!

So this is the start, look at me in the front, no.13!

 I can't believe that I had the cheek to be up the front end!  I don't think I have ever been so bold as to start at the front of a race before!  Well, when there is no 'testosterone filled' apponants about, I felt pretty comfortable to be starting from there!

We had to run four laps in all, two long laps and then two shorter laps.  I generally don't like laps, going round and around.  I do parkrun and track of course, but they are not races, but I usually try to steer clear of racing around several laps!  The good thing about this however, is that it's all on tarmac, we are not going to be running on the BMX bits of the park. No need to be stepping through puddles of mud, or jumping over tree roots on the trail sections. This is just nice smooth tarmac all the way.  DiscoRich gave the countdown, 3, 2, 1 and then we were all off! The race had began.  Ok, so there I was running along in the front like I owned the race....but not for long.  This may be a nice gentle all female race, that doesn't mean that the competitiveness is any the less!  You can soon see who the faster, serious runners were as they began to leave the field of runners standing, even before RefMichael had finished shouting out "Keep those legs up Tracy" the field of ladies started to separate and spread out into a long beautiful line of ladies.  We all started to get into our pace, not going out too fast!  Actually, I went out a bit too fast, I was just so cold, I wanted to warm up as quickly as I could, I wasn't thinking about my pace at all.  What a difference the weather is from last week, when the marathoners ran in the heat!  Here at the cyclopark it was very cold and so breezy!

Towards the end of the first long straight I saw a couple of 'ladies', they hadn't put their numbers on, and I feel.... I may be wrong here, but I do feel they were cheating!  They had clearly started running way before anyone else! I feel the wrong has been righted however, because I believe everybody, and I mean everybody, passed them by, literally leaving the standing eating dust, and giving them nothing but a quick glance of disdain, as we sped past.  I happened to have my camera with me, I felt it only right to capture them,  but I think justice has been done, they were disqualified!  So here they are

I'm pretty sure the one in the foreground is
going in the wrong direction!

It seemed strange to me to see the leaders running in the same direction as I was going, but just on the other side of the grass, they had come around the sharp bend ready to go up the hill (although I didn't know the hill was there yet).  The lady in pink (I know right, red transponder and pink top, I hope next time the organisers will be more diligent on the accessories) she was just flying! I can't even imagine sprinting for 2 metres at that speed let alone try and run a 5 mile race at that speed!  She surely was out there to win it!  In fact, there were so many amazing runners out in front, and all of them of course were ladies!  I know when I am doing parkrun, everyone is trying for that pb,  all the chaps come steaming up behind you, you can hear them!  If it wasn't for the fact we are all in a parkrun situation it could be quite scary, all that grunting and huffing and puffing getting closer and closer to you!  You just know that it's going to be mostly the boys that pass you first before the first females do!  But not today!  Ladies only, there is no grunting, no huffing and puffing going on!  There is just full on, 'in the zone, lets get this done, and show them how to do it gracefully' attitude going on.

That first hill, you know, the one that wasn't mentioned in the brief before we signed up!  Well that was just ahead of me.  In my mind, and remember this was the first time i was running on this hill, on the first long loop, and I was thinking we only had to do it one more time before the short loop, I was thinking "Right, lets run it!"  So I did,  after all,  there can't be another hill like it, can there?  I was pretty sure this was the highest point on the course anyway.  I gave it a good going!  I was pretty knackered.....ooops, I was pretty exhausted when I got to the top but I was so pleased I did it!  I was still feeling the cold however, my arms felt like icicles, but worst of all I could feel my calves trying to cramp up!  I didn't want that at all!  So I just slowed down my pace again, and tried to not push it too hard, let my calves stop cramping.  I should have warmed up really, I am always telling the beginners the importance of warm ups!  Only this week PhysioMikeTheMod had told our beginners the importance of warm ups!  I think with me, I just don't like to do it.  It looks way to professional to be doing all those warm ups by myself in front of everyone! How can I even think about looking like a professional athlete with all these other 'racing snake' physique ladies about. What I should have done was to get my running friends together  and  warm up together!  I am pretty sure that would have looked awesome actually.  All the PWR's  ladies doing a warm up session! Now that would have looked professional!

As I approached the water station for the first time, you know that one that RefMike was looking after he told me that I should be running, after all I am a leader!  So of course, being me,  I just skipped along, I had a bit of fun showing off really, I think I even ran backwards!  I did chuckle to myself!  After all,  running is fun,  don't get me wrong, it's hard work too, you need tons of commitment and mojo and discipline, but above all of that, the top most thing, it needs to be fun!  If it ever stops being fun then all those other things will just fall to the wayside, you won't want to get up at silly o'clock on a Sunday morning to go and catch a coach to go to a windy chilly cyclopark!  So yes, I was having fun, and I was loving it!

With the second lap well under way I was passed by the leader! She was obviously on the first of the smaller laps! Surely it can't be the second small lap.....no, no, it has to be the first.  Totally in the zone, she was, I don't think she even heard me call out "Well done, amazing running"  she may well only have heard the 'Well......." as she flew passed me.  I am guessing that I won't be getting a winners or runners up cup then!  So the next lap, the last time I thought I am going up that hill!  There were loads of PWR's who were way in front of me, but passing me by this time Helen, "You must be doing the shorter lap now" I said to her, "Yes, and they left the hill in!" she said.  Well, what can I say!  There I was, with my make up on I think, my hair looking gorgeous.....well it did look neat this morning, before this wind decided to do it's own thing with it and I was running happily along, I thought "I have have to do that hill again......nay.......another two times after this!"

Think Prosecco, think Prosecco.....I can do this.  I carried on running around this windy, hilly cycle park!  I can do this!  I kept saying it to myself, and I knew I could!  Am I not PWR? But, there is a good side of this particular track running, it is such a 'skinny' loopy route, we can get quite close to our running buddies that are in front of us, "Keep going Old Girl" I can hear them call out to me, "Wendimoo, hey! Keep Going" I yell to her,  "Yoo Hoo, girls" I shout to Jayne and Auriol.  So there, that is nice bit.  I was wondering about the two snails again, I had passed them on the second loop (but the way that is when I took the photo of them!), they really looked as if they hadn't gotten very far at all.  Will I be passing them for the first of the small loops, and if so, will they have reached the grassy area, or will be there be a tradegy! (I think originally there were three of them by the wet squishy mess just out of camera shot, but we won't go there, ewwww!) I feel sure if there had been the chaps running, there would be no survivors at all!

I didn't see them, the snails that is, on the first of the short loops,  but I did see that hill again. You know, the one that wasn't mentioned! I walked/ran it, because I knew there was another tiny little hill after this one and I still had to do it all again!  I was by this stage, warmed up!  My walking breaks (of course I walked, you know I walked, I always walk) I tried to make sure that I power walked.  I didn't think about how I looked walking fast, I just tried to do it, just like that chap at Norman Park parkrun does it!  There is a point on the track just opposite the finish line, where you can just been seend through the trees, I just happened to be walking along this bit but then I heard my name being screamed out over the whole track, RefMike, he didn't need a megaphone!  All the others saw me and cheered me on too, "Go on Old Girl, get running!"  It is a very friendly atmosphere there, and I even had a bit of a race with some of the runners. I the picture below it seems I am running a full pelt, but I am sure she was on her last lap, I was just showing off for the cameras with still another lap to do, but just look at that, look at my shoes.......I'm airborne!

Lucky 13 has air!

One last loop to do, one last go at that hill, one last thought about those snails, I hope they made it! The rain held off, the wind.....well that was still there, and the crowds were still there, no one had actually just collected their medals and just gone home, there were still so many people cheering us at the back all the way.  I took that hill, that cheeky, little, unmentioned hill, and I ran it!  I was blowing out my.......oops I'm a  lady remember.......I was rather puffing a tad by the time I got to the top but I was pleased that I had ran up the whole of the hill for the last time!  Yes, very pleased with that!  And now to the finish, huge cheering, clapping and a nice glass of Prosecco!

This was a race, a proper race, with all the drama, all the cheers, we had numbered bibs and registration. We had transponders (ok so they didn't match our outfits) but with a slight difference, it was just all about the ladies.  The organisation, the coach, and of course a medal, was just superb, and he medal had been well thought about, and discussed and totally embraced the whole of this race. It had the date on the back, which is always a good thing for this Old Girl in particular,  but at the front and shining so brightly is the goddess Aphrodite!  The goddess of love and beauty! What a lovely touch!  Which is why I was so very pleased, just so very pleased that just before I crossed the finish line, I had stopped......got my phone out, and my lippy........and reapply my lippy to the cross that line like a lady!  One needs to look good for the photos dahhhlings!

A girl needs to look her best at all times!

I'm a lady!

Here's my geeky stats

Here's some more photos of the day!  And what a brilliant day it was too

Singstar! Great to see you!

We love racing! 

We love putting the world to rights!

We just love running!

Hey!  Nothing to see here, just us ladies running!

photos used by kind permission by Brian Page and Nigel