Rain For Life

Two and a half thousand women braved the wet weather last night, to squelch round the 5K Race For Life course at Coombe Abbey Country Park in Coventry. This was my 4th consecutive year of running at this event, and it was definitely the wettest! Having poured down all day, the rain held off during the 'warm-up' before the race and for the first 5 minutes or so from the start line. After that the skies opened up again and it bucketed it down, making the muddy terrain quite hazardous at times.

It was brilliant though!!

The woman were split into 3 groups:

1. Runners

2. Part runners/part walkers

3. Walkers

As a runner, I belonged to the first group to start the race, and I completed the course in 31 minutes, 40 seconds.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me in this worthwhile fund-raising event for Cancer Research UK. My fund-raising target was £150.00 and I've so far raised £252.00!

The warm-up before the race

I'm clasping my hands here because a woman next me rapped me on the knuckles with a litre bottle of water!

Drenched, at the end of the race!

Coventry to Slough

On Sunday, Trevor and I ran in the 4.5 mile Coventry Fun Run, starting and finishing at the War Memorial Park. It was exhilarating! I was especially pleased that after I reached the finish line, there was an announcement to clear the exit as there were several HUNDRED runners yet to finish!! Ahem, I'm a (nearly) 48-year-old ex-smoker with a few pounds to lose, so hey, I could have done a lot worse! Trevor struggled at one point so being the selfless, supportive wife that I am, I left him gasping for breath and carried on without him! I do feel mean now. Oh well, ho hum, it might encourage him to do a bit of training. He came in 5 minutes after me so he still did really well, for a man aged 55 years, 364 days.

On Monday Trevor was 56 and we celebrated his birthday by working in sunny Slough, in Berkshire. My fellow blogger (Steve) might cringe at this because it is not is favourite place. Sir John Betjeman was not enamoured by Slough either. The opening line of his 1937 poem is "Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!" Click here for the full poem.
It was my first visit and I was expecting something much worse. The word 'slough' is most unappealing. Slough (pronunced 'sluff') is also a white creamy discharge found on infected tonsils. It's like calling a town 'Snot'. Anyway, I thought Slough was rather pleasant but then the sun was shining and our workshop was a success :-)