Wine, Road Rage and Pain

Challenges....the last two Sundays have been witness to challenge #3 and #4...maybe not impressive in distance, but effort made in blustery conditions. 23 February was Capital Runners season opener with a Richmond Park 10k....very windy and muddy. 

But look, wine for the winners. You have GOT to love a running group that gives out wine. Sadly, I wasn’t anywhere near fast enough to nab one of these bottles. Clearly I must try harder. Some super fast runners on the day, but very few women. Where are all the girls? Come on, its lonely out here.

2 March, Bushy Park 10k. For those of you who have never heard of the place is it the beautiful park just across the road from Hampton Court. A flatter version of Richmond Park, I would say. The race ended well, but the day got off to a rough start. Not least because a blond woman in a Land Rover (ha ha, how novel) was so obnoxious and aggressive from the Robin Hood Junction through Kingston I finally had to pull over and allow many, many minutes to come between us before I dared take to the road again. Horrible lady, I sincerely hope that whatever match you were racing to with your children they lost, and lost badly. In fact, I hope your son tripped on his untied laces, dropped the ball, ball grabbed up by opposing team and try scored, 5 times over. Vent complete. Deep breath.

And maybe that spot of road rage did serve me well as I finished in 17th place among the women. And NO not all of those in behind me were severely disabled or in their nineties and there were more than 18 women in the race....just to answer a few of the questions put to me by my supporters! 

Or maybe it was this new t-shirt I wore, sent to me by a race event company...”Pain is only French bread” Actually that really isn’t all that funny.  Pain is a complicated matter. It probably deserves its own blog piece. Some pain is very, very good and some pain is awful. As a runner, my pain/pleasure balance is probably outside the norm.  After all, I happen to think my bruised toenails are one of my sexiest features. My guess is I am alone in that....aaah the joys of running.