Racing Again!

For my new followers, as well as a massage therapist, I am also a keen runner.  During these crazy times, it has definitely been a sanity saviour.  An opportunity to get out the house, have some time to myself, discover new places and just think about putting one foot in front of the other.  

As well as the mental and physical benefits of just going for a run, I also love the competitive side. Unsurprisingly this year hasn’t been great for racing.  I was due to run the Devizes Half Marathon in April but, as with all other races, it was postponed until October.  Around August I was so sure that it would be postponed again I didn’t really think about training for it.  Then, I suddenly remembered about it 3 weeks ago and was amazed to find that it was still going ahead (with some new restrictions in place, obviously).

Never one to turn down the opportunity to get a medal, even if I was slightly unprepared, I decided that I would give it a go.  So, on Sunday I set off by myself (no spectators allowed) to Devizes to do just that.  The forecast for the day was 100% chance of rain, the start was staggered, with only 5 people going off with me and we had to wear a face mask in the start pen.  Some people might think that I would have been better off just staying at home.

With no expectations on time and an awareness that I would need to just embrace the wet it was actually a really great experience.  I may have looked like I had been swimming at the end and there was no one there to celebrate with, but I can’t tell you how fantastic it was to be racing again.  Running with a purpose.  My quads and glutes are definitely complaining this week (thank goodness for my Lower Body Mastery course next week @ Jing), but my heart is singing for some more races.

PS Thank you to LPS events for going ahead with it, despite everything, it was extremely well organised and I felt very safe.  I think the key is to go for small local events, I’ve already been googling…