After watching the antics of Mary, Catherine, Tracy and Janette in the Tour of Merseyside 2015 I was determined to join in 2016! So the day after the Tour, places open online.
By 4pm the day after I was signed up and looking forward to it! The 12 days of Christmas 2015 was the perfect preparation for it albeit a few months off, it taught me what I needed to do in preparation. The first week in July soon came round and I was excited!!!! And so I went ‘on Tour’ with Tracy Woods, Mary Conway and Lynn Melvin. The first race was the Southport half marathon, I was really lucky to run with Tracy!
We had a cracking good run and a good catch up all the way round. 13.1 miles done! On Monday we had a beach/trail 7 mile run from the other side of the Wirral – sadly there wasn’t a lot of mud! But still good views! The Tuesday saw us running 10 miles on the old tramway in Walton – not far from where I lived in my second year at Uni.
I started with Tracy and again we chatted away the miles! However, a fellow runner who we knicknamed Dopey was starting to get on my nerves! She kept run/walking and at 9 miles, Tracy told me to go for it – so I did! And I beat Dopey! Wednesday saw a rest day – which was much needed!!!! Thursday saw us doing 6 miles along the promenade, again not far from where I spent the last 3 years at Uni – it was a trip down memory lane for me!!!! Thursday night on the Tour is special – its fancy dress night!!!! With the Disneyland half marathon looming, we all opted to dress as Minnie Mouse! I’m sure you all remember the photos of us climbing a large metal cow?!?!
I’ve never laughed so much in a long time!!!!! We all ran together and even adopted a smurf on the way round! Friday night was cross country night in Knowsley! Plenty of mud this time, a two lap course! Then the Saturday morning was upon us. The last 12 miles of the Tour. An out and back from Wallasey to Hoylake. At this point I knew I just needed to finish to get THAT medal!!!
My inspiration for this run was Ben Ashworth, just before crossing the finish line I did a jump for him. Knowing that whatever pain I was suffering was nothing to what he was going through! And so ended one of the best weeks of my life! I made new friends and had loads of fun with old ones. We also had the support of Catherine Newton for most of our runs!
I had the most amazing week ever, and despite the pain in my legs, I woke up the following day and signed up for the Tour 2017! Next year I’ll be running on Tour with Paula Plowman and Janette Draper. I’m looking forward to it so much! Especially the ice cream!!!! And more importantly I beat Dopey!!!! Only just but I beat her! Not that I’m competitive or anything!!!!!
Sent from my iPhone