Running for the Birds

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Well, if there is any running involved, it will be a miracle, but on 16th May I will be taking part in the Race for Life at Mote Park in Maidstone.

I did this a couple of years ago and it was such a massive personal achievement plus it felt great to do it. The atmosphere of several thousand women coming together to raise money for cancer research was genuinely inspiring and uplifting.

Now 5km is really not that far – kids can do it in the blink of an eye (well I certainly could – we’d ramble for hours over fields and through woods), as can most adults. But I’ve a pesky nerve (that’s my medical name for it) that catches as it leaves my spinal column and then refers pain into my hip (a bit like sciatica but a different nerve) – it’s been doing that since before the kids were born and I’ve got so used to it that I forget that walking several miles or driving across the country is actually going to hurt for at least a week or so afterwards. But in the grand scheme of things I’m lucky – the nerves  may be in an odd place, but they are close enough that life is normal for me – that’s lucky. Too many of us are not, too many of us get such things as cancer. And if my walking a few km helps in some tiny way, then I’ll do it – it’s not a big ask, and who knows, this year I may shave a minute or two off my time (not that I was counting, mind…).

My ex thought I was raving mad and just could not understand why I did it – how sad is that! Not for me, for him! It was a bit odd to go on my own, but there are so many women joining in, and you know what we are like – it did not matter that you’d never met the person beside you – we were doing it together. The finish felt a little strange but I called my sister and shared my achievement with her – I’ll do the same again this year. And then I expect I’ll blog about it! And sign up to do it again next year!

This time I know of a couple of friends who’s names I could put on my back slip – I won’t, but they know who they are. I’ll simply put “for the Birds!”.

Have you joined in with a “Race for Life”? What were your feelings about it…? And at time of writing, you can still sign up – want to join me?

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About Babs
Babs runs The Blogmistress to help people use WordPress for their websites and/or blogs. Here on Birds however she lets loose on just about any subject other than WordPress! Follow her on twitter
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