Well 2014 was a massive year for Rachel’s Runners with many events, many group runs and even a few media appearances thrown in 😉 So in 2015 of course we are all set to better our best and kicked the year off with our second annual Cronulla Half Marathon…
When we run each of our 3 Learn to Run groups throughout the year we also have another group of more experienced runners training for a particular event to coincide with it. As the last group of each year is held in the Australian Spring/Summer months, there are generally no events for us to work towards in this second group. As a result, last year we organised our own half marathon on the first weekend in January and ran from where I live in the suburbs, to the beach – the Rachel’s Runners ‘burbs2beach Half Marathon was born! It’s a great goal to have and also a fabulous way too kick off each new year by smashing a run straight up.
Yesterday we set out before sunrise to get started on the run and it was VERY hot. As we passed a local river we looked out and could see how thick the air was with humidity, making an already hard, hilly run, extra tough. The lucky thing was, that as day break was upon us, an overcast sky kept the sun from heating us up until the last stretch on our run. Phew!
Along the way we had some lovely volunteers greeting us with drinks, gels, smiling faces and words of encouragement which kept us going. We even fluked a meeting with our Runlab coach Damon which was great too! We could not have survived the extreme heat without these people yesterday, so a HUGE thanks goes out to them!
As we entered the finishing chute one by one, we were greeted with cheers of encouragement by friends and family members who had gathered as well as ice cold drinks, all of which were so greatly appreciated after such a tough run.
Extra big thanks goes out to of course all the volunteers, the husbands (including mine) who set up the finishing area, the cheer squads along the way that kept us going and the lovely Andrea from Synergy Managed Solutions who not only ran with us and presented the medals, but has also worked hard over the last few months to ensure our website is looking fine. Thank you so much for your continued support.
I’d also like to send out an extra special thanks to all of our runners for the hard work they continue to put in. I take great pride in sitting back and watching as new runners are ‘born’ each day, not just from coming to our sessions each week, but for making the choice to get out there and do it for themselves. Together we continue to prove to the world that we can do hard things! Well done team RR!
Finally, thanks to all of YOU who take the time to read our stories and join us on our journey. Happy new year to you all 🙂
Rachel x