I had said beforehand that I had thought my husband (David) would be presented with the award as he’s running so much faster now than what he was at the start of 2018 – and he’s had lots of PB’s too. He said he’d thought I would get it!! I said “no way”.
I had quite a bad start to 2018 with a knee injury, then a broken metatarsal that was missed on an x-ray so I’d continued to run in pain. Also being told by a GP that at 55 I was too old to run. Sort of knocks your confidence a bit. But I kept on running and fought!.
So, when Angus (Chair) stood up at the meal and said that road running isn’t always about being first or fastest, that it’s about the effort and commitment that goes into it. He then said the award was going to a person who had run 26 parkruns and 27 road races ….and I still thought “no that’s not me as I’ve run more than 26 parkruns but he was right.!” Then Angus said he often received Facebook “PINGS” from this person on a Sunday evening when they’d got ANOTHER PB – and I thought “oh hec its me”.!!! I was absolutely lost for words.
My ex-boss who is a non-runner has commented on my award. She’s said:-
“What a super accolade. You should be very proud of yourself. I often think recognition like that is more important than being first. It is symbolic of endeavour not just achievement and acknowledging the persons effort as a whole….Wonderful!!”
I am by far one of the slowest road runners at LMAC and I’m generally near the back of the pack in the faster races. David says he admires me for sticking at it when often I’m left in remote places running alone – but I keep on fighting. I’m not a Greyhound – I’m a Bulldog and I have the determination to keep on fighting.
I really do owe a lot of my thanks to other runners at club for their support. The Perry’s (Steve and Christine) are amazing and their advice is invaluable. Also Billy Gardner who takes the slower runners at club training night is so encouraging. I was asking his advice about running parkrun in Lancaster as I can never manage to run up the hills. He said to me “luv, when you stop getting your PB’s come and have this conversation with me again”.
I feel proud to run races in my LMAC shirt. I am so determined to reach my targets for 2019. To run a 5k sub 30 and to run 10k in under 65 minutes.
Thank you LMAC. Without you guys I wouldn’t be progressing.