I was back up in the beautiful Scottish Highlands last weekend for my sister-in-law's big birthday bash and, oh boy, it was some party!!! Those of you who know my family will be well aware that a Benge "do" is always large and loud! Family members had travelled from all over England to celebrate this amazing woman's 70th birthday and it was a night filled with emotion, laughter, song and lots and lots of wine. Of course the ever present Kando was at my side throughout the event and, as always, enthusiastically threw herself into the proceedings. Who knew that meerkat's could party so hard? She even got up and joined Alfie on stage! The paparazzi just couldn't get enough of her!! I received some lovely comments on mine and Kando's challenges and lots of people asked why we weren't doing the Maggie's Run the Runway at Inverness Airport the following night. We had made the difficult decision not to add the Runway Run to our list of challenges as we have another one to complete in just 3 weeks' time and we all know what happened the last time I tried to do too many challenges too close together! My Sports Therapist had warned me against over-committing myself again. However, neither of us had allowed for the "wine factor" and the fact that Lizzie was doing the challenge and neither Kando nor myself could pass up the opportunity of doing a challenge with Lizzie so.......................we added a cheeky little 4th challenge into the mix and stepped away from the wine - or at least one of us did! We headed out to Inverness Airport at 9.30pm the following night together with a faithful crew of supporters made up of Lynn Benge, Shaz Riley, Janice Butterfield and Chris Butterfield who did a fantastic job of cheering us on. Sue Riley was running the event too and she set off in the first wave with the real runners and got a personal best for her run! It astonishes me how runners like Sue make it look so effortless and elegant; whilst Kando and I puff away at the back of the pack sweating buckets. I think it may have something to do with fitness levels......................
It was surprisingly dark out on the runway, despite the landing lights being on and all the runners being decked out in glow sticks. The night was very humid and warm which kept steaming my glasses up so I took them off and just kept heading towards the blur of flashing lights in the distance. Luckily marshals were stationed along the course to keep us all on track. I managed to grow myself a nice big blister on the ball of my foot at around mile 2 so the final mile was a bit of a hobble. We knew when we were approaching the terminal building and nearing the end of the run as we could hear the shouts of encouragement from the crowd (especially you Shaz Riley). It really does make a huge difference when people are shouting for you and it really spurs you on to the finish - well that and the bacon butty that was waiting for us! It was certainly a challenge to remember and it was great to be taking part with friends and family. Now I have 3 weeks until the night swim so Kando and I are hitting the pool once again. Mermaids (and merkats) will be hitting Salford Quays on 16 September so wish us luck for our penultimate challenge!
2 Comments
Jayne Foot
1/9/2017 05:24:15 am
Absolutely brilliant - you are an inspiration to everyone around you. Your writing is a great read - You need to write a book about all of these adventures - keep up the fantastic work
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Gill Thomas
1/9/2017 09:21:26 am
Thank you Jayne!! Maybe I will write that book.....xxx
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