Hot, hot, hot !!!

Goodness me, its hot running at the moment. Having spent the winter pounding the streets, longing for the warmth of the sun on my skin, as soon as it arrives I don't really like it !!!
I ran the Marlow 5 mile yesterday, which is a nice little race through the streets of Marlow in Bucks. I was very nervous beforehand - full of " Why am I doing this ? I am rubbish at running. Its too hot. I am too fat... blah, blah, blah " I do ask myself why I am doing this. I am never going to be a great runner, but when I do run and it goes well it is such a marvelous feeling. It is a battle with myself most of the time, and I have to remember that I will never get any better if I don't at least try.

I wanted to pull out, but knew that this was a test. If I pulled out of this one I would pull out of next Sunday and so on and so on. So off I went. There was the usual " being overtaken " by lots of people, but then I setteled into my pace. My legs felt strong threoughout, but my cardiovascular doodah is rubbish. I think the "run/walk " thing has got my body into the habit of giving up every 5 minutes.

Still, I kept running and didn't walk until nearly 3 miles. By this time I was sooooooo hot and was longing for the water station. When I got to it they had practically run out of water. I had to stand and wait whilst they poured half a cup out. I did feel for them as they obviously felt terrible about it, but I felt more for the poor people behind me who may not have got any.
The good people of Marlow, however, did themselves proud as families stood outside their houses with jugs of cold water and cups. One kind soul even sprayed me with water as I ran by.
As the race went on I had to resort to walking quite a bit, which annoyed me, but I just couldn't run all the way. I made sure that my walks were no more than 60 seconds at a time.

As I neared the end I ran and I was pleased that my legs felt good. There is some speed in there somewhere. I think if I practise running and not walking I have to get faster !! There was a lovely American man at the entrance to the park where the Finish was. He had run his race and was shouting encouragement " Come on !!! Kick for it !!! Kick for it !!! " I love people like that. I felt spurred on and ran with a big smile to the end.

A big thank you to all the faster runners who stayed to cheer us slowies on and to the Marshalls who cheered too. I finished about 1546th out of 1586 runners who finished ( approx. ) I was so glad that I did it and didn't chicken out and must now gird my loins for Sunday and my 10k.