Friday night is Sweatshop Running Community 10k night and this Friday it was my turn to bring cake. I'd stayed up late on Thursday frantically watching the oven hoping my peanut butter cookies would come out okay, but safely knowing the rocky road in the fridge would prevent a disaster if they didn't. As it was they all turned out well and I'm reliably informed tasted great.
But Friday didn't teach me I can cook - no, it reminded me of what I never expected to discover when I first went to SRC - a community. This Friday my usual running buddy was injured so I ran mostly on my own, it didn't matter and I still got to within 5 seconds of my 10k personal best. I was cheered as I finished and that wasn't just because they were all eating my offerings. The support you get from being part of something like SRC is amazing. We compare times, we talk about how it felt to run and we laugh - a lot. When I first went I thought I'd turn up run and go home. Now when I run 5k the runs are shorter in length than the time spent chatting at the end! 
The same is also true of parkrun - I resisted joining the parkrun movement for sometime. Saturday's were gym day. I had no time for this 5k run, thinking it was competitive, serious and super scary. As I'm learning I've got this running thing all wrong as it is none of those things. And yesterday was Maidstone Parkrun's 1st birthday and a fancy dress run. What made it super special was my wife decided to run as well and for the first time was happy for me to run with her. So I took a gentle run along the riverbank, tweeting and taking photos as I went dressed in a jesters hat (NOT an ice-cream hat....more of that in a future blog!). I didn't get a personal best (that stays at 27:03) - what I got was a reminder that running is about different experiences and what you want to make of it. One run can be about times, or distance or personal bests and this is important and fun but equally the runs about friendship, support and having a laugh can give as much in return. So today - Sunday 13 April 2014, London marathon day - but also a calendar year until the 9am start of Brighton Marathon 2015. I've got a 10 mile race on Good Friday and knew I needed one last longish run (for me!) to give me confidence. So as the BBC coverage started with that amazing music I was pulling on my running gear. Certainly something that has never happened before. I managed an 8 mile run along the river bank, felt good and am sure race day will be okay. Bit scared of that unknown 2 miles but I'm sure the fact I'm racing and a medal waits at the end will spur me on.
As I was running today though I learnt some pretty important things - the first was when attempting to take a sports gel for the first time do not open it with your teeth. I have very weak hands (can't even get tampon wrappers off easily) and the bloody thing wouldn't open. So aha, use my teeth thought I? Quite glad no one was around to see said pack jet squirt into my eye and all down my face. Damn that stuff is sticky! But I learnt I can laugh and run pretty well!!
So as I watched the highlights of the London Marathon for the first time I realistically thought - "I could do that", then realised "I will do that!" - but best practise opening those gels a bit more first....
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