Happy New Year!
I thought, in the spirit of setting new years resolutions and getting on with them immediately, that it would be a good idea to start the new year with a marathon. There was one on at SVN in Gravesend, which isn't too far from me.
I didn't get quite as much sleep last night as I planned. I thought, for a reason I'm not quite sure of now, that it would be a good idea to get the night bus home after the fireworks last night. It wasn't. The bus was complete carnage. A weird drunk man along with his gang of creepy croonies sat next to me, and wouldn't leave me alone, so I had a diva moment, and stormed off the bus, realising when I got off, we'd only made it about half a mile since setting off, and now I had to walk.
Never mind though! I was ready for the morning, and it would all be nice and relaxed!
Woke up, got ready, got in car, and it wouldn't start. Oh. Went back inside, to plan a plan B, and managed to knock over a vase of flowers, and drop my phone behind the chest of drawers, all at once.
Plan B involved public transport, which generally never goes well, and after last night, was promising to be even worse than normal. Cycled to St Pancreas along the canal, narrowly avoiding being knocked into the canal by a speeding shopping trolley pushed down some steps by another gang of drunk men. I made it to the station on time, in one piece. The first train wasn't going to get to Gravesend until after the main start of the race at 8.30 am, but luckily it was a flexible start (could start on the half hours), so as long as you finished by 4pm, you could start later, and hopefully I'd still get to see people on the way around.
Thinking about a conversation with my sister last night (during my bus/walk/diva episode), about tarot cards, and everything being able to be either positive or negative depending on how you look at it, I spotted Starbucks. Here was an opportunity to have a positive moment - a gingerbread latte!
Then I got on the train, nice and quiet, and it set off. Then a group of drunk lads sat down right next to me, put on some absolute shambles of what they obviously thought was music, and started f-ing and blinding at each other.
2020 was going so well.
Got to Gravesend and off the train. I was going to have to run to the start to get there and start at 09.30. I set off, just as a group of drunk men appeared. "Alright darling" etc etc followed, of course. Are there even any original comments left?
I ran 2 miles to Cyclopark, then because it's been about 6 years, I think, since I was last there, I couldn't remember how to get to the bit where the race was. I ended up at the end of a dead end path, where I accidentally kicked a beer can on the floor, and got someone's old manky beer in my shoe.
I wasn't convinced by 2020 so far, to be honest.
Anyway, I eventually made it to the start, at 9.27 am, where it was great to see Travis and Rachel (it's been too long since I did an SVN event!). Susan was also starting at 09.30 so the two of us set off, following my fastest ever pre-race prep. Because everyone was starting at different times, and there were two Parkruns on too that some people were fitting in (hence the name of the race), I had no idea who was there, so on the laps new people kept popping up - it was really nice!
Lots of folk out, and after the shaky start to the year, things were looking dramatically up. I love my running friends so much! Thank you to all for your support and cheer today. Was it worth the terrible journey? Of course it bloody was!
I was on my 8th lap, and ran into George, who was also on his 8th lap, but was contemplating doing the extra mini lap, to do a mini ultra. "Are you doing it?" asked George.
"No" I replied, with conviction. "Nooo.....well, maybe.....I might....I suppose I might perhaps, yes"....
And then I got back to the aid station, and Travis said "Now, before you ring the bell, can I tempt you with an extra mile for the ultra, and you can get this different medal?", and I really liked the colour of the different medal, so I ended up doing the extra mile, and so did George. People are such bad influences.
I found it a bit tough today, I was tired, and my hip hurt. 3.5 hours sleep, some new years eve wine, and a journey of dramas are obviously not my top race prep, so I shall add all these to my list of "things not to do before a long run".
Thanks Travis and Rachel and SVN team for a fab day, all the encouragement and support - I'd forgotten how much fun SVN events are!
No comments:
Post a Comment