Enotria Ran to the Beat!

On 28th October, the day finally dawned for brave Enotria runners, who many months ago signed up for a charity half marathon, all part of their charity of the year fundraising efforts for 2012.  Despite the weather being bitterly cold, everyone who took part completed the challenge and we would like to thank everyone who has donated and supported the team, but more importantly the runners for training so hard and helping us to raise much needed funds.  This event alone has managed to raise over £4,300 so far but please visit the team Justgiving page to help reach the team target. 

Here are two stories from the day:

Maggie’s Account 

Well it seems as though half my year has been spent talking about this run. Finally the day had arrived, and bah hell it was cold, actually it was freezing; but I summoned my Northern Spirit and went out like the Geordies... without my coat! I moseyed off to my pen and tried to huddle near the people around me without looking a bit weird. After waiting for some time we start trooping slowly to the start line, and then with the click and beeps of GPS’s and IPhone running apps we were off.

There is nothing more bizarre than starting a race to then turn the first corner and see around 100 men fleeing to the side of the road to pee against some trees, this sight alone spurred me to pick up my pace. The rest of the 1st half went quite smoothly and I started to feel like I was getting into a comfortable pace. However, I think everyone will agree that the worst section of the run was the hill around mile 8, it was a killer! The only thing which kept me running was the thought that if I walked it would be even longer until I could sit down at the pub with a well-deserved beer. When I saw mile 12 I realised actually how long a mile is! You see that sign and think great 1 mile left, that’s going to take no time at all; it takes forever.  But it was worth it in the end as passing the finish line felt awesome. A highlight of the run for me was some of the costumes people were running in, I always admire these people who zoom past me with ease while wearing a giant carrot costume... how do you even train for running in a carrot costume?

Dan’s Account

6 months of training and it still wasn’t enough to strengthen my knees to carry my 100kgs! The first 3 miles were great, yes it was cold but at least it didn’t rain, the cheering spectators were brilliant and the banging sound stages were a great pick up. I deliberately slowed the second 3 miles to conserve energy for the full 13.1 miles but after 7 miles my knees were hurting and by 9 miles I was in agony. Inspired by the people who have generously donated to Taylan’s Project and my desire to not be a ‘fat dad’ I pushed on through and finished the race without stopping. I picked up the pace for the last 100m and flew past other strugglers over the finish line in case anyone was watching... I have now completed a half-marathon, the longest distance I have ever run in one go and do not feel the need to do another one, ever!

And here are a few comments from some of our other brave runners...

Julia McKie – “It was brilliant, I felt like a celebrity! I was high-fiving the spectators as I ran, even if they didn’t actually want to high-five me.” 

Edgar Bettridge – “The overall experience was positive since I didn’t ‘die like a dog on my own’ as Sergio had predicted.”