Race For Life - We Did It!!

Our dedications

I posted yesterday to tell you that my Mum & I were doing the Race For Life, those of you who follow me on Twitter will probably already know we completed it but I thought I'd tell you a bit more about it & share some pictures.  Thanks so much for your messages yesterday, Nan was an amazing woman & I think she'd have been proud of us both.

Waiting for the start

We had hoped that it would be a nice sunny day for the race but typical British weather meant it was very grey, raining and freezing cold!  It didn't seem to put anyone off though and there were hundreds of women and children lined up to take part.  As we all waited for the start there was a sea of pink in the park (although some of it was covered by raincoats lol) but luckily the cold didn't dampen everyone's spirit & we were all raring to go.

Mum just before we set off

After a warm up it was time to set off and we had a great time.  It was really moving to read the dedications people all had on their backs, but upsetting to think of how many lives cancer has effected.  Seeing young children with dedications to their mothers and cancer survivors walking for fellow patients really made you think. 

Some of the other's taking part

The Race For Life really is a great family event with mothers, daughters and grandchildren all taking part together, one woman who took part had only given birth 10 days ago and had her baby with her in a pushchair!  It isn't a massive walk (5K is just over 3 miles) and it takes about an hour to complete, even less if you decide to run it.  We took part in the event at Dunorlan Park in Tunbridge Wells which is a beautful setting and apart from the massive hill right near the end which nearly killed us it's a fairly gentle walk.

The killer hill (which is longer & steeper than it looks lol)

Mum & I completed the race in about 55 minutes, I'm sure we could have finished faster but when there are so many of you setting off at the same time you're kind of stuck at the same pace as everyone else.  We did overtake quite a few people though.  There was a lot of support from the crowd as you crossed the finishing line, and it felt really good to have taken part in something so important.

Me & Mum with our medals

We have already decided that we're going to sign up to take part again next year but are hoping for a nice sunny day!  In fact I've decided that next year I want to train to actually run the race (so if any of you are runners & have any training tips please let me know!).  They have 2 races at Dunorlan Park so I'm aiming to run the morning event and then walk the afternoon race with Mum.  I just hope next year is warmer because I'd lost feeling in my fingers and toes by the time we'd finished yesterday! 

Between us we have raised £120 so far which is fantastic and higher than we were aiming for so I'd like to give a massive thanks to everyone who has sposored us!