Race for Life Norwich – Miss Peanut’s first race!

Me and Miss Peanut have been in the UK for 5 weeks visiting family. I decided not to blog while i was there to just enjoy the holiday and have fun. The 5th week wasn’t planned but we both came down with a nasty virus end of the 4th week so had to extend our stay.

While i was there i had planned to do my first Obstacle course race (OCR) Insane Terrian. I had prepared hard for it doing weights and running. I was even running solidly the first 2 weeks i was in the UK with my sister almost every day.

As the weekend of the race approached both my Dad and Brother came down with a nasty virus making them very sick  (yes its the same virus we ended up catching!) . It was so bad they couldn’t leave their houses (they work away from home) and left them weak for 5 days afterwards.

Because my Dad was the one taking me to my OCR race and couldn’t come home i had to cancel going because i just couldn’t get there without him. The race was in Suffolk and i was in Norfolk with no transport to get there. I was extremely disappointed as i had been building up to this race for months 😦

One of my sister’s was doing the Race for Life 5km race the same day and asked if i wanted to join her. It wasn’t the same as an Obstacle race but it was better than doing nothing at all! Plus Miss Peanut would get to come along.

The race for life 5km was held at Norwich showground and as we arrived we could see all the other ladies ready to take part. The weather was nice but cloudy although rain had been forcast for the afternoon.

My Sister was doing the race with a friend from her work and a Group of co-workers. All i could see was a wave of pink where ever i looked and as we approached the start line i could really feel the excited buzz.

(photo me and my sisters friend) Even Miss Peanut was getting excited dancing to the music as the warm up exercises began. First the runners were called to the front of the line, then the slower joggers so we moved with them and then last the walkers.

As the start horn sounded we all moved forwards as one to the cheer of the crowd who were watching. It was a little bit of a mess as some runners tried to push forwards then people who suddenly decided to walk stopped running. But after about 5 minutes everyone had found their own pace and we could all move more comfortably.

My sister who is now quite a fast runner after running for over a year was pushing Miss Peanut’s stroller as she ran. Miss Peanut in question was having a whale of a time laughing and putting her hands out wanting to go faster. I stuck with my sister’s friend and we ran slowly with bursts of speed when we wanted to catch up with them. There were quite a few other ladies running with small children and buggies i noticed. And everyone was talking to eachother giving encouragement and having a laugh.

It was a little harder going on some of the grassy areas with the stroller when it was my turn to push but we managed. It was a nice mix of terrians including grass, stones, concrete path, flat areas and hills.

We were all happy when we reached the 3km mark knowing we only had another 2km’s to go until the finish line. At this point we all started to push a little harder as we just wanted to get across the finish line. My Sister was pushing Miss Peanut again and i encouraged her to run fast and finish. But she decided to stick with us wanting to cross all togeather which we finally did 🙂

Miss Peanut ended up being the 3rd child in a stroller across the finish line! 🙂 Which wasn’t bad for her first ever race and im really proud of.

In the end the day was alot of fun even though i missed my other race and i am more than happy that i got to do a race with my daughter for the first time. 🙂

She even got her own medal which i am keeping for her so she will have it when shes bigger and hopefully runs some more races with me one day. As for the OCR races?

Well there’s still plenty of them to do when we visit the UK in October which my sister has said she might do with me! 😉