Today I Had Fun...
I love racing...
As long as I can remember I have enjoyed seeing how fast I can run...
When I was just six years old I would run round and round our garden, calling out to my father... 'Time me Daddy, time me again Daddy...'
I loved seeing if I could run around faster than before, just to find out...
I experienced no tension, no pressure... I just liked doing it!
The pressure only started to come in later on, when instead of just trying to find out, and race just to see, because it was fun... The 'not measuring up' energy reared its head... And held me in its grip for many years...
It wasn't such fun racing then...
But today I had fun... We stayed in a B and B last night and so I left there this morning on foot; hoping I would find my way to the park...
We had slept in a tad later than ideal, when you are not entirely sure where you are going...!
Anadi drove there, stopping en route to get a bottle of water to mix an energy drink so that I wouldn't be 'running on empty'...
I finished 18th overall in the race, 2nd woman - and I have just found out from my friend Nick that I now hold the Grovelands record for 55 - 59 age group...
Nick and I met way back.. I was 17, he was 19 and very fast.
I can recall runs with him and our training mate Paul Crease (Creaser) where I was silenced! Now there's a thought...
The two of them chatting away as we covered the miles, me keeping up, loving the run, but certainly with no extra breath to chat!
And now we can keep in touch and see one another still racing, still loving it... Forty years on!
As the race unfolded I caught up with two young women... I suspect their combined age, not much more than my 57 years here on planet earth...
And so the race was on! I loved it...
The main change I notice within myself, is my ability now to be totally relaxed when in a race situation...
It was pure sport today... Competition in its most creative form; a space where we were joining together and stretching for excellence and for progress...
I wouldn't have achieved my new '5k pb for this year', without the added energy of the chase...
