Race for Life

On July 11th, I took part in my first (of many, I hope) Race for Life. Although this wasn't through lack of trying! (for the previous 3 years I had either found out about it too late, or been on holiday when the races were in Manchester).
The race was at Heaton Park, in Prestwich, Manchester. The race was due to start at 11am and the Race for Life website suggested getting there an hour early, so to beat any traffic we left sunny Salford at around 9.30am (on a Sunday!), only to arrive at an overcast Heaton Park 20 minutes later. Because it was Race for Life, Heaton Park allowed on site parking for a £1.50 fee (although it was advertised at £1 on the RfL site, thankfully Jen brought a purse full of change!). We stepped out of the car in our t shirts to the quite chilly weather and walked for about 10 minutes to the main site.
as a Race for Life newbie,I was unaware of the vast array of stalls offering everything from burgers (at 10am??) to massages! with sponsors including Nivea and Go Ahead there was much entertainment. There was a main stage with a Mancunian celeb (who i'm ashamed to say I don't know, who introduced the Nivea Boys (rather buff men who dance in a camp fashion to S club 7, etc...)and other presenters (who again I don't know as I don't listen to local radio).


The field filled up really quickly with women and supportive family members, I was really unprepared for how much it was going to affect me. Race for life provide you with a number and a paper backing to write on who you are racing for. I had already decided to Race for my Dad & Gran. At this point I was really wishing I had done race for life earlier, everywhere you turn are women with the names of lives lost or battling with cancer, some ladies also had photos strapped to their backs, and it really brings it home how much cancer effects everyone, the whole experience was really humbling and a major stepping stone for me emotionally.
Any ways, the warm up started about 11am, which was a bit late as we were supposed to have started running by this point, but by 11:20 we were assembled into groups: Running, Jogging, Walking.



I obviously joined the jogging group, which should have been renamed the 'running to be cool group'. Unlike the Running group which was full of people who actually, you know, ran. The jogging group comprised of people like me who had spent months training and a shed load of girls who'd obviously done zero training and managed to run past the crowds, then stopped to walk 5 abreast taking up the entire pathway, until there was a downhill section at which point they ran like there was a free vat of blue wkd at the end of the rainbow!. Which meant those of us who had actually trained for the event had to jog/run up grassy banks etc to get around the people who chose to walk and clog the course for everyone else, which happened a lot. I think next time I will join the running group and just stay at the back!
After about 10 minutes I checked my Nike Ipod sensor to see how far I had ran only to find it was broken due to an unfixed software update glitch from apple , that is still broken. Gutted does not even come close to how I felt at this time.


Besides this, I managed to complete the course in 40 minutes, although i'm sure I could have shaved a few minutes by knowing how close i was to the end. The course is quite deceiving as you pass people near the end then the course doubles back on itself up a hill! But at this point I had the prodigy on and didn't care, much love to Jen who waited at the finish line for me!
After finishing I felt sooo relieved, and managed to sit down and enjoy the sponsored goody bag with treats from Nivea and Go Ahead to name a few, actually the go ahead yoghurt bars are really tasty :). Me & Jen then took ourselves off home for swift showers, and into Manchester for cocktails.

So far I've managed to raise approx £150 through on & off-line donations, but there is still time, if you'd like to make a donation, check out Mine & Jen's page!

Manchester Duck Race

Good Friday saw the Manchester Duck Race down the river Irwell at Spinningfields. The entire area of Spinningfields was heaving with people especially young families all keen to enter the race which was held in aid of the Brainwave Charity which aims to "help children, between the ages of 6 months to 12 years, who have a brain injury, genetic condition or Developmental Delay.".
Starting from the bridge just near the Mark Addy pub, with the kick off due at 2pm, I arrived about 20 minutes early and squeezed my way through the throngs of people to the bridge over New Quay Street, where I managed to secure a position directly above the finishing line. The race started with the corporate ducks about 15 minutes late, where I was stood although you could tell someone was speaking into the sound system, you couldn't actually hear what was being said, so you had to guess.

But the corporate ducks were released and went on their way - very slowly. There were radio controlled speed boats that were used to keep the water flowing and pushing the ducks in the right direction. Like a lot of people I was surprised how small they were, we expected pretty hefty ducks, although by how long they took it was probably for the best that they weren't too huge!

The corporate ducks could decorate theirs as they wished, and there were some pretty sweet costumes, from pirates to artists with a palette and all manner of feathers and head dresses!
Once the corporate race had finished, the clouds had started to gather over a previously sunny Manchester, and before you had time to blink - the general public mini ducks were released by their hundreds from Bridge Street.

Unlike the larger ducks, these took no time in sweeping down the Irwell, keeping tightly packed almost the entire journey. A lot of people were wondering how they would choose a winner when the ducks were at one point travelling in a straight line,meaning about 30 would pass the line together.

Needless to say, in true Manchester fashion, within seconds of a winner passing the finishing line, the heavens opened and people left in droves to find shelter from the rain or simply go home.
I left via Carluccio's for another of Manchester's Best Coffees.