500 Santa’s going for a Sunday Morning Run

Race No 24 – St Francis Hospice Santathon, Dagenham

I had been looking forward to the Saint Francis Santathon run for months, why? Because over 30 of my Weight Watchers members had signed up with me along with their friends a family, as the race was starting from Dagenham & Redbridge Football club, which is where I run the majority of my meetings from, I had even roped my husband into this run

On the morning of the race will were all excited, young & old, human and dog, we were all dressed up in our Festive Finest

Because there were people of all abilities we had agreed to all run/walk our own race and meet up at the end, for me it was a tougher run than I expected, I had ran a few time with my husband recently and he always brings the best out in me, but try as I might I just couldn’t keep up with him, I put it down to the costume, even thou it was a cold day I always over heat when I run, but two day later the reason became apparent, I was coming down with a cough and a chest infection that is still going strong over 3 weeks later :o(

Anyway I let Jason head off and I ran my own race, a slow and steady plod determined to run the whole thing without stopping, so I was very pleased when I saw my watch as I crossed the finish line, I know its another race that was short of the 5k but looking at my times the extra 250m would have probably added another 1.40 to my time which still would be a very good run for me these days

Overall our times ranged from an AMAZING 26 minutes to just under the hour for our little Chihuahau, everyone totally loved the event and are all psyched up for our next event, we even got a mention in our local paper, I am so proud of them all, especially as there is now talk of a Couch to 5k running group starting on a Wednesday after our morning meetings #proudleadermoment

& finally the obligatory runners Before and After photo