On 26th October this year was “Wear it Pink” day in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign. At work the ladies in the office had decided once again to support this charity and have a “Pink” day in the office. They wore pink, had a raffle and a guess the pink super hero game. As I was already planning to run 2 marathons that same weekend I decided to join in by trying to raise them some sponsorship by wearing pink for both marathons.
Getting a pink running costume that fitted and would still allow me to run well in the changeable late autumn weather took a bit of collecting. With the help of Soozy from my running club I got a ladies club pink top, can’t believe I’m a size 14! Online I found some pink shorts of similar style to what I normally wear and a pink cap. To add more pink to the outfit and combat the cold weather that could be thrown at me I ordered some pink gloves and a buff. Then to finish off the outfit Yuk-Lam ordered some pink laces. I didn’t get round to finding a pair of pink socks that would do but still not a bad kit. I just had to keep my fingers crossed and prey the whether wasn’t so bad that I would be forced to wear a cagoule and hide some of the pink.
Marathon one was Snowdonia, the forecast was cold but sunny and that is what we got. I decided to brave the initial cold and show off all my pink in the hope it would warm up during the race. This felt a risky call at the start but I was very pleased with the decision as I was warm enough during the race and my pink was wonderfully bright in the sunshine. I got a great deal of attention from the spectators, much more than I was expecting, lots of ladies shouted out “looking good in pink” and I was even called the Pink Panther. I met a dozen or so runners I knew during the race and several said “heard you were wearing pink today!” I know I had mentioned it a bit on Facebook but I was amazed how many knew to look out for me in pink, the power of the internet eh?
As for running the race itself, I felt good but tried to keep it fairly steady reminding myself I had to do it all over again tomorrow. My PB for this course is 3:31, I did want to beat it and knew I could but didn’t want to make it jeopardise the second half of the challenge tomorrow. I still felt comfortable at the bottom of the last hill (22 miles) and knew I was several minutes inside my course PB so decided it was worth the risk and pressed on up the hill. The top of the hill is 25 miles and then it is a fast steep decent back into Llanberis and the finish. I stormed down the hill doing a 5 minute 50 second mile and crossed the finish line in 3 hours 27 minutes 18 seconds. A job well done but had it took too much out of me for day 2?
Day 2, Preston marathon. The forecast for this day was persistent rain, heavy at times. I had an early start to drive to Preston and the weather forecast was definitely correct. On the journey across, my initial assessment was I would have to run in a cagoule to keep warm and reluctantly hide some of my pink outfit. This race was a bit unusual as it was arranged by the Preston Guild and is only held once every 20 years. The Guild have an impressive hall in the centre of Preston and this is where the race was organised from with the start and finish only a very short walk away.
So in light of what I had seen travelling to Preston I kitted up in pink but reluctantly covered up my pink t-shirt with a black cagoule. As all the runners massed at the start to my surprise the rain seemed to stop and being amongst so many runners I was quickly feeling rather warm. Had I made the wrong clothing choice? 3 miles into the race, the heavens had opened, we were running into a cold wind and all thoughts of my question at the start had gone. In fact even wearing my cagoule I was struggling at times to keep warm and dry wasn’t even an option!
The stiffness from the previous days run eased after the first 4 or 5 miles and I got into my usual pace but by 10 miles I was feeling it more than usual. The poor weather wasn’t helping my mental resolve making the run very hard going. This run ended up about simply finishing and not about time.
At 24 miles I saw a little girl probably only about 4 or 5 years old, she was holding out a Tupperware bowl and offering out little sweets in the shape of tooth brushes. She was wearing a pink coat with the hood up, looked wet through from the rain and very cold but her kindness and willingness to help melted my heart. At this point in the race I didn’t need a sweet but felt she deserved some attention and thanking for her kind nature in the awful weather. The sweets in the bowl were all wet from the rain and I struggled to pick a sweet out with my cold hands. After I managed to get one I asked her was she cold and she nodded, I thanked for the sweet and then had to leave her to continue on my journey. This is one little girl I’ll never forget, shame I never asked her what her name was.
I eventually finished the race in 3 hours 43 minutes 35 seconds, which I was very pleased with considering the terrible weather and my time at Snowdon the previous day.
For a race they hold only once every 20 years I was very impressed with what a great job the Guild did, especially in such horrendous weather conditions. I must thank the hundreds of spectators that came out in the bad weather to cheer us on and all the voluntaries that gave up there time to perform the many necessary tasks from marshalling the road junctions to handing out the finishers medals, without you all the race wouldn’t have been the success it was in such testing conditions. Well done Preston and maybe see in 20 years to do it all over again!
So it was challenge complete 2 marathons in 2 days in PINK and I raised £192 for the Breast Cancer Campaign. Thank you everyone that sponsored me.
