On Sunday 25 May 2008, me and some friends; (pictured left to right) Kelly Basile, Jody Hnat, Amie Burke and Sara Milani, ran a 20km race in Brussels. Go Team London!!
We have been meeting on Saturday or Sunday mornings since February working up to this big day. For me, the best part of our training runs was the lively conversation and post run coffee-talk. It was hard to believe that our weekend in Brussels had finally arrived. We boarded the Eurostar on Saturday morning and arrived to Brussels ready to run.
After "carbo loading" on Saturday we all got some much needed sleep.
The day of the race started out a bit rainy and cold, which didn't really concern us since we live in London and that is normal weather. The race, however, did not start until 3:00 p.m. and similar to London, the weather seemed to change every 30 minutes. By race time, it was sunny and about 70 degrees - not ideal running weather.
The race started on the Esplanade of the Cinquantenaire Park. It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon, but again...a bit warm for running. The course was described as having undulating hills...that is an understatement! Sadly there were several runners that were removed from the course on stretchers and ambulances. It was so hot and the race organizers did not plan well. At one of the water stations - late in the race, there was no water left! Thank you girls for keeping me going - especially when the water ran out!
I am very proud of all of us - we finished strong and had a great time. We had a post-race champagne toast and congratulated each other on our achievement. We also decided that we'll do one of these races every year with a few requirements:
1) Race must start before noon
2) fun city
3) good sponsors (post-race refreshments and food were lacking in Brussels!)
Girls, I'm looking forward to our next run!!
Cheers!
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