Anyway, ordinarily I would not perhaps bother with Race For Life. Please do not misunderstand me: I think the concept is superb and it gives everyone the chance to achieve something whilst earning money for one of the most deserving charities out there (Cancer Research UK). However, for myself, at £14.99 it is too expensive to just enter as a race, especially considering that it is not meant to be competitive and does not award finishing times, but I also feel a bit cheeky using it as a fundrasier when 5k is not much of a challenge to me. For my first marathon I raised nearly £300 for the eating disorders charity, B-eat, and I felt like I'd really had to work hard to earn that sponsorship money, just like the non-runners have to work hard in Race For Life. What I am trying to say is, it's all relative!
Yet here I was, 11am on a sunny (we were very lucky!) Sunday morning in Bournemouth, dressed in luminous pink and lining up along 5000 or so other bright pink ladies, ready to 'race for life'. I was there because we had taken 20 of our International College students and so staff were required to accompany them. I naturally volunteered as it was my birthday and if I really had to work on my birthday, what better way than to do a running-related activity?! 4 staff accompanied the 20 students and we decided to space ourselves out in the field, with myself going off hard so I could get back first and be at the meeting point ready to greet and congratulate the girls as they completed the race.
I went off hard, yes, but my legs were not fresh, still having the Dartmoor Discovery and Dawlish Dash races in them, and they are certainly not up to 5k speed at the moment! However, after a young teenage girl sprinted off ridiculously fast at the start, then blew up and faded, I found myself in the lead. And what an experience! No, this wasn't a competitive race, but I had a lead bike clearing the path ahead for me and the amount of cheers and support I received from spectators was phenomenal. At 1.55m, the half way point, we spun around and headed back down the Bournemouth prom. Now I was running into a crowd of 5000 pink ladies - all of them were clapping and cheering me as I weaved my way through them. The return half was hard as there was a stiff headwind and having to snake through the massive pink-cloud of on-coming runners meant I couldn't go as fast as I did on the way out.
Approaching the finish gantry I saw the clock was reading 20 minutes - I was pleasantly surprised as this was not the fastest course and I had not run it flat out. Everyone lining the finish was cheering and waving banners and flags and I felt more overwhelmed than I had done at any other race, even the ones where I have had big victories (Taunton, Guernsey). I took the tape in 20:14 and was immediately pulled to oneside to be interviewed for the BBC local news.
After, I felt rather emotional. The fact that all of these women were here for a reason, that they were running for someone loved, perhaps lost, and for such a worthy cause, I felt humble to have been the first runner home amongst 5000 people who were all running with their own poignant and personal motivations.
Race for Life is a fantastic event that has successfully captured the imaginations of thousands of women across the country and pushed them out of their comfort zones to achieve something they would otherwise never think twice about doing. It might also leave some of them with that buzz that only comes from crossing the finish line of a race, knowing you've given your all and couldn't have tried harder, and, who knows, it might encourage some of them to take up running...
Start of the Race for Life, Bournemouth.
Some of these youngsters were competitive, but I soon reeled them in!!
At the end, with my medal!
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