Wow.

What a night.

Quite possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I ran my first 10k “race” in the most brutal weather imaginable.

We left the house at 5.40 in the pouring rain and driving winds, to head for Irvine Maritime Museum.

I’ve only ever run in a T-shirt on top and was reluctant to change the clothes set up that seemed to work for me. The weather had other ideas. I’d been freezing all day at work. We all decided to wear our running jackets and it was absolutely the right decision.

Here we all are before we start.

A lady asked why we had our number outside on the jacket… what if we get warm?!? Of course that sent me into a “should I put the number under my jacket, should I leave it” run up to the start….. we all decided that it was so cold outside that we’d need our jackets anyway.

This is us sheltering under the Irvine Railway Station bridges at the start line.

I cannot explain how bad the weather was.

It was the kind of night you would curl up in front of the tv, or with a good book. You most certainly wouldn’t have gone out for a run!

Lynsey and Gillian disappeared quickly after the start. They are fast runners.

I settled in with Rachel and Emma but I have to be honest and I say I never settled into the run at all.

I didn’t enjoy any minute of it.

My body fought it all the way.

My mind fought it all the way.

Rachel kept a good stride beside me, as we did in Tough Mudder. I kept telling her to leave me if she felt I was holding her back. Julie the burden showing her true colours… just so I could beat myself up for not finding it easy.

The first 1k felt like miles. The 2nd km felt about 4 or 5. Everything felt difficult in the wind and rain.

Our water station was at 4k and that felt like we still had so many miles to go.

Rachel really seemed to be in the zone. She had a spring to her step and a positivity in her head that I seemed to be lacking.

I honestly couldn’t have done it without her. I’m so grateful to her for pulling me round.

The last few kms were by far the worst.

If you know Irvine at all, we pulled into the lake behind the dunes, in Irvine Beach Park. We were fully exposed to the worst of the weather.

The rain felt like hail on our skin. The wind was so strong we were hardly moving.

It felt endless.

We laughed for some of it which is always a good thing.

The course seemed to keep turning away from the finish line but finally we turned along the home straight, from the main beach car park down past Gro Coffee.

I didn’t feel like I could go on.

Rachel kept me going.

We crossed the finish line!!

I burst into tears and couldn’t do anything for myself. I was exhausted 😆

I had beaten my previous 10k by almost 2.5 minutes…. And in that weather, that was pretty special.

I was 253rd out of 262 runners but it was a proper race and not a fun run. For once I don’t feel bad about that. Strava confirms my PB.

And what a way to do it. Lashed my all the west of Scotland weather had to offer.

A special shout out to Lynsey and Gillian. They managed a sub 1hour with 58 minutes. Incredible effort for Gillian’s first race.

They came out to meet us and ran the last few hundred metres with us, hand in hand. It was a really special moment.

I also want to say a special word for Emma who has never run 10kms before, at all…. And she did it all by herself in that weather. She lost her Gran a few days before and could have so easily got out of it. An inspiration.

And we are done!

We headed up to Vanilla Joes in Irvine for our free finishing ice cream. It was like nectar from the gods. I will definitely be back.

We then got changed and dried off in the pouring rain… appreciating the irony. We all stood in Asda’s car park in our sports bras…. My leggings wouldn’t go all the way up as they stuck to my legs but we were at least out of the soaking wet clothes and on our way home.

Thanks to Rachel for driving as the roads were all flooded.

What a night.

It didn’t end there.

I relived it for most of the night.

I tossed and turned.

I lay wide awake but exhausted.

I got up and went downstairs to read.

I took paracetamol and ibuprofen which calmed my legs. I felt them melt into the bed which was such a relief.

My head still thumped and the adrenaline flowed.

And then it was 6.40am and it was time to get ready for work again.

My legs have been fine.

I’ve drunk so much water and the headache is still there but lessened.

I did it.

I ran a 10k race.

On 1sr January this year, Rachel and I decided to start running once a week as we paced well together.

Who’d have thought we’d have been taking part in a 10k by August?!?

Who’d a thunk it?!

So proud of our wee running team in Gateside. A tiny village with a whole lot of runners, with a whole lot of wisdom to help each other through anything. ♥️

And finally thank you to Claire and the team at Irvine Running Club who made it all possible. Their support all the way really helped. They must have been freezing and soaked to the skin themselves.

I am not moving off the couch tonight 😆

Stay safe everyone 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️