We are the Friday Gang| by TheFridayGang

Well, starting with an apology once again!

Despite my best intentions, chaos has returned and blogging has fallen by the wayside once again which is a shame as I really enjoy reading about your exploits and the camaraderie on here!

So, the way things have been going it's highly unlikely I'll get to wish you all good luck for VLM 11 so.....good luck, enjoy the experience, hope it's a good one for you and that you reap the rewards of a long training programme.

Well, on thursday, Mel, Sue, myself and my brother Craig headed out to Prague for the half marathon on Saturday morning.  Prague is absolutely stunning, lovely architecture, the river and its bridges are  beautiful, and we had a fabulous, fun packed four days.  However, the race was horrible, the worst of our lives, and none of us ever want to run it again!!!

I'd been running really well in training, and was really hopeful of at least sub 1.35; however, tonsilitis and several sleepless nights prior to the race meant that I turned up at the race feeling less than fantastic and already talking myself into expecting a steadier time.  Goodness knows how, but they put me in start pen A with the elite and fastest club runners, so that gave me a complex to start with!  I felt positively obese compared to the tiny little Africans!  I cowered in the back corner!

The gun went off, and I knew I was in trouble within half a mile...nothing in the legs at all. Seriously doubted whether I'd run 13.1 miles at all!  What made things worse was the unexpected heat....it was so, so hot, it felt like there was no air at all.  I won't drone on about how horrible it was as it doesn't make for entertaining reading, but suffice to say that it was a battle not to stop, never felt so bad in a race.  There wasn't much water on the course for such a hot day, several people collapsed.  On several occasions during the run I swore to myself that I'd give up running in favour of something like flower arranging!!  I got slower and slower...eventually dragged myself across the line in 1.38.55 according to my Garmin.  Not disappointed with the time, just pleased with myself for finishing.

I won't divulge Mel and Sue's times, they were both about 15 mins slower than usual due to struggling with the heat too.  However, I will shame my brother....I was panicking when he still hadn't turned up after 2 and half hours, I had visions of him collapsed on the roadside somewhere or alone in a Czech hospital...but the little sod had got so fed up with the heat and slog at 7 miles that HE WENT TO MACDONALDS FOR A COKE AND FRIES and then carried on running!!!  I nearly throttled him!! I'm not letting him live that one down in a hurry!

So, whilst I would highly recommend Prague for a trip, I'd never do the race again!

Quite enough of my grumbling, hope you and yours are all well and I wish you all the very best with your training/racing/challenges.

Love

Mandy xxx