I was really looking forward to having a friendly face in the crowd, or waiting for me just after the finish. I mostly travel to races on my own as husbando works at the weekend. He has been with me to two races, one because we were on our way to lunch with friends (who doesn't fit in their first ever 10k race on the way to Sunday lunch?) and the second because we were taking our middle child and a friend to the cinema directly after a 5k race. All the others have seen me arrive at the finish line to be met by no one. All around me people are being congratulated by friends and relatives, and I wander off to pick up my medal/goody bag on my own, then wander off to the station to come home.
So, when husbando said he'd come up to London with me for the Bupa 10,000m I was thrilled. I told him where the best places to watch would be, where we could meet up afterwards etc. But he doesn't want to 'hang around for ages' waiting for me. I said he could just get to the finish at around noon and cheer me over the finish line, but he says he'll meet me (and my friend Sue) at the restaurant for lunch. I guess I'll just have to rely on the official photographers for some pre/post and during race photos as he doesn't want to carry the camera all day.
I have the glums about this, which is silly because it is totally predictable behaviour on his part. If the boot were on the other foot I would not only want to be there, he'd expect me to be there!
Ho hum.... what I could do with is a run......
Oh dear - that's such a shame! Are there any Runnning For Women people who can come and cheer you on? Or BookCrossers? I'm sure if you put out a call.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky that Matthew pretty well always comes to see me run - and really has to hang around as I'm so slow (mind you, he uses the opportunity to eat whatever is at hand). We're doing our next one together, but luckily near to where a friend lives.
Hope it all goes well - not too many nerves, please, as you'll use up your energy!
-- Liz
And what I meant to include in that post but forgot to type is that therefore I should appreciate M more when he runs even more slowly than me and I have to keep stopping and waiting for him and still can't work out if I'm going to run faster and away from him in his first race (mean?) or stay with him all the way (tiresome)!
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to see Carol from Running4Women - she's not 100% sure if she is going to make it, and I am meeting up with a friend who is running her first ever 10k race - possibly her first race. I'll be OK once I'm running. I feel that I am putting myself under a bit of pressure. I want to run this well, but there is so much that can go wrong on the day. I'll be happy to do a few seconds better than last year - but my time always seems out of sync with the chip time, so to be sure I have beaten last year's time I need to make sure the time my watch says is significantly faster than the time I need.
ReplyDeleteIt all worked out in the end. And you're right - my first ever race. And if you and S hadn't been there, my experience would been so much the worse, if I'd even bothered doing it. I'm not a natural runner, I don't particularly enjoy it but knowing you were there waiting for me, and we were having lunch made all the difference. So thank you very much, for being there for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's to next year and all the support we can muster.
Suspect husbando may have read my blog... oops! And I know he'd rather have root canal work than look after all five children for the day! When I started I wasn't a natural runner either. To be honest it has taken me until this year (and only since I started training seriously at the beginning of April) to get to the stage where I would say I *love* running!
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