The Race

Race day was a hot and sunny day – beautiful if you wanted to go for a nice relaxing walk in the park, but perhaps not so brilliant if you were just about to run 5k!  On the morning of the race, Rob took Alfie out for a bit of a walk whilst I got myself ready.  Alone with just my thoughts I showered and began to put all my pink gear on.  As I did so my mind began wandering and I felt myself getting very emotional.

My sister-in-law Sandra was a fun-loving, gregarious person and she would have leapt at the chance to dress-up, have some fun and raise some money.  In another time and space, she would have been running the race with me and the more I thought about her and about why I was running the race, the more it hit me of the big void that Sandra’s death has left in our life.  I broke down and had a cry and so was very emotional by the time we got to Moat Park.

Running the Race for Life is a revelation. Nearly every runner has a notice on their back with who they are running for and everywhere you looked were ‘Mum’ and ‘Gran’ and ‘Grandad’ and ‘my lovely friend’ and ‘my aunt’.  It was scary how many people are affected by cancer and how many people have lost one of their loved ones.

So in soaring heat we set off on the run – it was such fun!  Everyone was wearing pink and the atmosphere was so friendly.  We made our way around the course in about half-an-hour and I’m so proud and thankful to have a wonderful friend Amanda and lovely sister-in-law Jo who supported me and did the run with me. We did it!