Tuesday 1 May 2018

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

No comments:

Post a Comment