Running For Runnings sake?!: Why Run? Because We can!

Hello readers.

Well, I didn't know what sort of spin I was going to put on my blog today, I mean considering I need to blog yesterdays run to. Do I go straight back into 'Normans Angels' persona or do I just blog and blah on on like I usually do. And then sometimes the blog is just there!

So, let me blog on and get this done! Normans Angels were not meeting up all together this weekend. but we did meet up at parkrun yesterday. Naggy and SnappyH were doing more that parkrun miles, but were incorporating parkrun in their routes, so they took off earlier in the morning, met up on route, ran for a bit then turned up at parkrun to do that! Then they scanned their barcodes and carried on running back home! Me, well I had planned to take it easy as I knew I was running today with my club.

We all met up at the start line, on a lovely morning, it wasn't sunny but it felt quite mild out. The RD, which was SingStarJo, gave out the usual info for everyone and then we all started to run. It was good to see J.J. there and K, they have been mojo hunting for sometime now! GetYourLegsUpTracy was with her daughter, putting her through her paces, and CarolWithAnE and RefMichael was there too, and a host of others!

Of course the faster runners just whizzed off in front and I just plodded along in the back chatting with J.J. She realised on route that she hadn't brought her barcode with her! It's so annoying when you do that isn't it! A wasted run she called it, I say it's a free, easy, no pressure run! Anyway, it was done, we did it, we didn't stay indoors, wrapped up in our duvets, we got out and ran. We gathered at the end for a nice stretch and then we all walked towards the car park chatting as we do. Some of us were talking about what we would be doing with the rest of the weekend, Alison was going to play rugby! Rugby! Apparently there were some of the players not there and they asked her to be part of the team! She said she has never played it before, only watched her son play from the sidelines! How crazy is that! Anyway, the morning was just perfect, I ran, I got my results and had a fab day out with my hubby and grandson at Bluebell Railway! My geeky stats for yesterday.

Train Run

And now to a lovely blog entry! I don't know if you remember, a while back I did a Special Blog, all about how I came to be running and I was trying to get to write about another runner, well, she is such a fast running, pinning her down is blimmin hard, but I am still hoping that will happen! So, here is another one who has an inspirational story! It's amazing!

The second of the yearly train runs was today from Swanley, GetYourLegsUpTracy picked me up and we drove to St MaryCray Station. There we met at least 30 other runners, it was going to be a brilliant run. The sun was shining, the weather was just perfect, so much better than we have had in previous years! When we were driving to the station we had passed a couple of the runners, DavidB and SingStarJo. They looked like there were totally focused and having a great time running, so we didn't stop to offer them a lift!

When we got there we met up with Alison and LouLou, CarolWithAnE and RefMichael, DiscoRich and IllustriousLeader, Ruth, Sherry, Petula and well, tons of them. We were soon all with tickets and down on the platform waiting for the train. Of course I got the obligatory team photo! It's only one stop to Swanley, still time to get a couple of photos done though.

There were quite a few that got off at Swanley with a few more staying on the train to travel to Wrotham, they will be running around 17 miles back! I'm not ready for that distance.....if ever! Some of the ones that got off with us '6 Milers' were still going to be doing extra miles after getting back to St Marys Cray!

I took a picture of us all, but I did it on that pano thing and I can't get it to load on here! but there are some other pictures that will be here a bit further on!

We started our running, of course I offered my services as sweep, as usual, I prefer being at the back, but I know soon I will have to get out of my comfort zone and get a move on! At the back though it's always changing, even the faster runners come back to chat so it's a nice sociable place to be. This is GYLUT's first Swanley run, I promised her llamas! They had better be there, it was also Alisons first train run ever!

I was chatting to Alison, I like to find out how they got into running and how they heard about us here in Petts Wood. Oh my goodness! What a story she has! Alison has been with PWR for that long but she wanted to run with a club. She said she used to run before, but you know how things get in the way. Anyway, just about 3 years ago Alison had surgery.

She had a cyst develop in her back, it grew larger and pushed the disc into her spinal cords, making her paralysed. Alison said that it happened slowly over a couple of months, feeling stopping in her legs and toes. The soon all her lower body, she said she couldn't even feel if she was going to the loo! It's a rare condition called Cauda Equina, Alisons symptoms happened over time. When it was diagnosed the surgeon wanted to operated with 24 hours! She said things moved quickly, too quickly because she couldn't have it done in one of the NHS hospitals due to the surgeon needing sleep between one patients surgery and hers. Oh no, it sounds so horrendous right? But Alison was transfered to a Harley Street hospital where the surgeon worked, so she was right there near the doctor. The surgery happened as soon as the doctor was well rested, because it was going to take some time!

Alison continued, "When I came around from the anaesthetic the doctor asked me if I could move my leg" she was smiling now as she recalled the moment "He kept asking me to move my toes and I told him it was going to hurt me" and now the smile was even bigger "Then he said to me 'Just move your bloody toes Alison' and then I did, he just laughed and jumped up in the air as he looked at my toes wiggling" Oh my goodness, can you imagine that, how that must have felt for Alison too! She went on to tell me that within 24 hours they were getting her out of bed to start re-hab! "I was on my feet, learning how to walk all over again, just small steps at first" she said as she demonstrated her first steps to recovery! Let me tell you readers, I was tearing up! What an amazing lady!

Not only has she battled back from the Cauda Equina and learned to walk all over again, but she's here running for 6 miles back to the station for fun! Not only that but she did parkrun yesterday and played rugby, a game she has never played before, which also included her getting a tri! So, Alison from her on will now be known as AlisonTried! in rugby terms it mean she scored, or as the Americans call it in their football game, she scored a touchdown! I do believe her team won that tournament game as well! Fecking amazing!

We were talking afterwards and she says she loves running, she loves this club, the people make it! PWR is a fantastic club, we are not all athletes, although we do have some pretty amazing fast ladies and gentlemen! We are not all tall and skinny runners, we really are a mixed bunch. I recall a friend telling me that when he told someone that he was an ultra runner, the person looked at him and said 'you don't look like a runner!" Let me tell you, if you see a cross section of our club you will be surprised at how many don't look like runners! But we all do run! We get up early on the weekends and we do parkruns, train runs, cow and bean runs, we run for fun, for charity, for medals and for our club! We are runners, with some amazing runners among us with some amazing stories too! I promise I will get another story here soon! Or maybe sooner than you think, you see this couple in the middle, well, they have got engaged! Well, not on this run, but just recently!

The engaged couple!

Well, it really was a great run, loved it and more than anything I loved hearing AlisonTried's story! Todays title, inspired by Alison, Why Run? Because we can, because we are able to, so why the feck not!

Here's some more pictures, oh and if you can see between the twigs, you might just see the geese and some Alpacas (they were not llamas by the way, well how was I to know,

they look the same)