Event: Race for Life 2008

I did the Race for Life 2008 5km race today (that is about 3 miles). I did it with my colleagues and it was a lot of fun.

I caught the train to Charing Cross which is right by the National Gallery. I'm a bit of a fan of the London Underground and the Underground stations and thought this one was just too pretty to pass up. What you can see there is a map of the Trafalgar Square area which is where the National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery and South Africa House are located. 

The race took place in Regents Park in London. Regents Park is really exquisite and has a lovely botanical garden section with loads of beautiful different types of roses. The roses are all well labelled and easy to distinguish from each other. I was quite impressed and have definitely put Regents Park on my list for a proper visit. I'll need to get pictures of those roses anyway!

It's not a good picture at all, but I dedicated my run to Lesley's sister-in-law Lorraine who has lung cancer. (Lesley is my step-Mum). That pink sign on my back says: "I race for life for Lorraine". We thought the race was for breast cancer (on account of all the pink) or for women suffering from cancer but it turns out it was for Cancer Research UK. Naturally, I would have dedicated the race to my Dad who beat cancer in January 2006 had I known that. Trust Mandy to sign up for a 5km race and not know what it is for!

This is what the starting line looked like - the mood was electric! I had no idea there were thousands of women behind us too or I would have taken a picture of that!!!

The deer in Regents Park came out to support us. :0) There are elephants too and they are so pretty I thought I had to take a picture. This was just after the 1km mark.

That is me at the finish line. The walk was really easy and my time was 1 hour, 1 minute and 50 seconds. Once you get chatting it is a really easy walk to do and I was surprised how effortless and quick it was. I will definitely sign up for the next 5km race that comes along.