Today there was no park run. There was an early morning train through to Edinburgh with my mum and my daughter to go and spend some much needed quality time and have some fun!
I had spotted Gung Ho a few months ago and after suggesting it to my daughter she didn’t stop going on about it – she was really excited. So I contacted SAMH who were the charity partner and signed up (they are also the charity I ran my first marathon for). It’s a 5km obstacle course of inflatables and a little foam at the end.
My dad is going into hospital in a few days for a double heart bypass so right now he is understandably grumpy and on edge. My mum needed a little break before it happens and to take her mind off it so she came along – plus she loves all this! My dad can’t manage anything right now so he stayed at home and watched football – trust me he was happy!
I have to say the day went well from my organisational skills point of view! I bought the train tickets the day before, we were there before my mum, we were 30 mins early for the train and got to Edinburgh 2 hours before our wave. I don’t think I’ve ever been that early for anything – or so often – ever in my life!!
We walked in to the park and Lucie and I had our SAMH tops on. A girl from the charity came running over asking if I was Ella – a fantastic welcome! She quickly followed this with ‘thank god you are that could have been awkward’. It was Megan who has been emailing me about the couple of events I have done. I have to say right now it’s been very difficult and my anxiety is back big time so meeting her like this really helped! It’s such a fantastic charity and everyone is so welcoming and happy doing what they do! I will definitely be doing more for them.
We went across to the stage and found out the waves were running a little behind as someone had had a little accident but was ok. Numerous times we were thanked for waiting which I found really nice. Accidents happen, you can’t prevent everything.
Lucie decided to go full charge at the first obstacle and took off in front of me – she flew up it with ease and continued to run after. In fact she ran the whole time between obstacles which I was very proud of as in other events she has struggled. Today she did amazing!
There was 10 obstacles, all inflatable but we managed to race each other on almost all of them! She beat me – on them all! She didn’t even hesitate on the really high slide one or the high jump one! No fear that girl. The foam was right at the end so naturally we had a little foam fight ha ha.
It was a little chilly but not really cold. The running kept us warm and my mum had Oreos for us when we finished – got to love her. We treated Lucie to a Subway for lunch and she fell asleep on the train on the way home.
I’m hoping to get in some more fundraising money – it’s not a huge amount but it’s something. As I said I will definitely be doing more for them. We got an email last night wishing us luck – it’s a small charity and little things like that really make you feel they appreciate what you’re doing.
My mum had a great day too. She just loves chasing round trying to get photos and shouting from the side lines! She relaxed a little too – as you can see below 🙂 Best photo of the day!
Next weekend is Pretty Muddy Race For Life with a very old friend of mine. Another step towards getting my anxiety back under control. I’m a little nervous about it in case my chest tightens up again but I’ve got the week to work on how to overcome it.
Tri.runner.ella 