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Sunday Sep 16, 2007

Photos from today

During the warm-up, run off the main stage by adidas.

Just heading up to the 2km mark!

Me with my stopwatch and my medal.  I look rather hot and bedraggled.  Unsurprisingly so.

Just in case you didn't believe me!

Posted by Carrie ( 6:59 PM )
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I did it!

It was a gorgeous sunny day in Hyde Park as I wended my way through Knightsbridge for the start of the Hydro Active Women's Challenge.  I got there bright and early to give me time to wander around, settle myself and drink lots of water.

As I said in my blogs earlier this week, I was worried about my right calf and ankle hurting me during the race, and managed to get myself all upset about it on Saturday night.  I was reassured by my friends and my sister, who told me that people wouldn't care if I just walked it, as long as I finished.

With that in mind, I lined up for the start near the flag marking out where those runners expecting to run slower than 35 minutes should assemble.  After my personal training sessions with Laura, she'd marked out 40 minutes as a decent time if I jogged the entire route; and although I would have been more than happy if I'd just made it round the course inside an hour, I had my eye on 45 minutes as my marker.

Well, it was hard work, but I did it, with a combination of jogging (most of the way), brisk walking (the uphill bits and the fourth kilometre), and running (the first and last stretches), coming in at 38 minutes and 54 seconds, which was only ten minutes slower than Great Britain heptathlete Jessica Ennis. 

I picked up my finisher's bag and have proudly worn my medal all day so far, and will probably do so for the rest of the week.

I'd like to say a really big thank you to everyone who's sponsored me so far (and everyone who's going to sponsor me now they have evidence that I've finished), to everyone who's supported me through me training (including personal trainer Laura Williams, Puma, Yazoo and Sport Beans) and of course to my parents, my sister, my brother-in-law, and my boyfriend, who came to cheer me on today.

It's been a blast.  But don't expect me to be filling in those marathon entry forms.  Not yet, anyway.

Posted by Carrie ( 6:36 PM )
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