Birmingham 10k in aid of St Giles Hospice
The morning finally arrived and 6 slightly apprehensive accountants arrived at the Thinktank ready to start the biggest run of our lives All but one of us prepared ourselves for the big day by having a few gentle workouts in the week running up to the race and had a dry night on the evening before the race (very hard for some of us) a pasta dinner and an early night. No prizes for guessing who went out and drank 10 pints on Saturday night!
We started in different waves -Sue and Angie in the orange wave, Luisa and Jennine in the white wave and Logan and Anne-Marie in the pink wave. The wave we started in depended on our musical taste rather than our sporting prowess!
The air-horn was sounded and off we went – wondering whether we would pace things right and complete the challenge without stopping! The weather was pretty much perfect – hazy sunshine and a welcome breeze. The streets were lined with family and friends and hundreds of locals happy to high five all the participants and shout encouragement. There were entertainers along the route – three sequinned ladies singing 70’s disco, a percussion band, the local radio station and at the end were some Scottish drummers. We had to dodge the odd camera pointing at us as we went past – hard to remember to smile when you are concentrating on the road ahead.
The watering post was at the 5k marker next to Edgbaston cricket ground (where we had to run past the match day bars that were sadly unmanned and dry!) then it was back down the Pershore road to the city centre – a huge relief to pass the half way marker.
As we rounded the corner by Selfridges it was onto the final 1.5k – so nearly there – but here came the first real incline – ouch! Then past the 9k marker and straight onto another hill – so cruel! Relief when we reached the top and passed the 800m marker then as we rounded the next corner a welcome downhill slope with a huge crowd of people shouting and clapping us to the end – the finishing post is in sight and time for a sprint finish. We did it! An amazing feeling and all of us finished in better times than we had hoped for We gathered together in the finish area and took a few photos and then in traditional Boss Partnership style we went to the pub!
It was great to see that over the course of the race our charity target was getting ever closer – we are now over 80% there and can’t thank everyone enough for their support.
Will we do it again – you bet?