Raquel's 40 Race Challenge

This was the one - the one that made all the events before it seem possible. This was the biggy that overshadowed any fear I’d had about any of the other events so far and it levelled any fear or angst, so it served its purpose. But this weekend, it was upon me. And strangely I didn’t have any nerves, I was just excited about the journey I was about to experience (thank god i was in blissful ignorance!).  I had one hour of panic, the hour before I left home on the Friday night to journey to Teddington for the overnight stay before the 7:15am wave start in Richmond. Did I have everything? was I prepared? had I packed too much ? did my mid point bag have what I’d need?, did I have enough supplies to last unit meeting my supporter, Erin at the second checkpoint? aaaaggghhhh all too much!  Once I’d left the house and the taxi had crashed into a lamppost along the way, I was fine  😂 his day was much worse than mine. The first part of the race went without hitch, it wa...

It felt quite special going to Windsor this morning following the recent birth of a new royal - congratulations Megan and Harry. The atmosphere in the air was regal! My Dad came to support me and I had plans to beat my PB of 2hrs 7mins. I hadn’t had a great week, it was the third anniversary of Klaire’s death on Tuesday and as much as I tried to ride through it, it was bloody rough. It hit me much harder than I was expecting which led to my healthy eating and cutting out alcohol, going on the back burner. And very little activity. Emotionally draining, but life goes on and I was thankful and relieved that after a few days I managed to pick myself out of my grief pit with the thought of this event looming. I knew I was striving for that PB and with the friendly rivalry now going on with my friend and work colleague Rachel on our half marathon times, I wasn’t going to let myself down.  As is usual fashion for me, apart from knowing the distance, I had no idea what the run entailed...

This event is a 5km,10km or half marathon route by Dukes Mound on Madeira Drive. The plan was for the kids to take part in the 5km and I’d continue to complete the 10km. The weather forecast was rain but I wasn’t worried.... we’d invested in fancy dress wigs to keep the rain off!! The unicorn wigs were an absolute hit with the girls....and the supporting crowd it seemed. Seb however wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole, poor kid, making him wear a luminous green Afro. It’s all character building you know haha!! Around 40 + Runpals we’re officially signed up for this event but I have a feeling there were more?! Love doing events with these guys. High fives, encouragement, loads of fun, just amazing! Shout out to the minipals who really were anything but mini. Theia just kept saying “I’m running on my own” “I’m running on my own” Miss Independent! And Alyssa didn’t just win the 5km junior race she was the fastest female on the course - wow! My first 2.5km was slow and stea...