Monday, 15 July 2013

Scottish Power's High 5 Challenge and the Race for Life #high5challenge

Having enjoyed running the Race for Life in Preston in June I was very excited to be asked by Scottish Power to run again yesterday in Manchester for their High 5 Challenge. They paid for my entry fee and have donated £200 towards my sponsorship. It was great this time to be involved with a team of bloggers from across the north west. We all arrived with our special blinged up High 5 gloves:





There was plenty to do in the Scottish Power tent including posting our own high 5 message on the wall:


My daughter and I took our turn at doing the Cancer Slam dance and I am waiting for the video to appear on Facebook! Hopefully I don't look too awful ;-) I didn't risk doing a high 5 jump before the race as I was already nursing an injured leg which I had to strap up for the race.

Update here is the video:

 

After what seemed like ages it was time for the warm up. I was with Chayz and Charlotte with the other mad runners. It was a really hot day and not a good one for running but we were all determined to do our best. After a minute's silence and a cancer roar the hooter went and we were off!

The route turned out to be pretty hilly which was a nightmare in the heat. Good job there were 4000 of us out on the course plus 1000s of supporters to cheers us on in the heat. I have to admit I walked up every hill but attempted to run the rest of it! I was never going to beat my previous time of 29 minutes though..

One of the best parts was the high 5 people at about 4.5 km in who encouraged us to keep on going:

  
They did lie about the fact that was the last uphill section though! Eventually the finish line came in sight and I just about managed to up my speed on the home straight to cross the finish at a proper run and a time of 37 minutes. It was a great relief to be handed my finishers medal and a bottle of water! 

It is always a fabulous atmosphere at these events and we stayed around for a little while longer to soak it up:


I am glad to once again have been given a chance to help raise much needed funds to fight cancer. Roll on 2014 when I will be out there again getting hot and sweaty for a good cause! Nickie and I are on the case to organise a massive blogger team at Preston race for life so watch this space... Here are the other fab blog posts by the lovely ladies in the challenge:

9 comments:

  1. It was great to finally meet you - and yes it was SO hot and SO hilly - that was a bit of a shock. But the marshals were amazing - a really well organised event. We sat in the shade for a short while after and bragged about our achievement on Facebook & Twitter.

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  2. Sciencegeekchic15 July 2013 at 21:46

    It was lovely to meet you! Thanks for the mention too. I think I met one of your daughters too who gave me a high 5!
    I'll definitely be looking to do the race for life next year. The idea of Preston sounds good, if not I think I'll go for the one at Old Trafford...avoid all those hills! X

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  3. Mymummyspennies15 July 2013 at 21:51

    Lovely too see you again. You did so well in the heat, great time, especially with your poorly knee! The marshals with the hi 5 gloves were fab, weren't they? Ben loved them! x

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  4. my battery went on the iPhone I was tweeting so much ;-) the atmosphere was incredible especially knowing so many of us were in it as a team!

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  5. she would have loved that! definitely not fancying a repeat of the hills next year... Preston a much gentler course

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  6. really added to the community feel. well done to you and Ben for completing it on such a hot day

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  7. Lovely to see you Becky, I hope the drive home wasnt too bad! Well done on your time :) hope your leg is 100% soon x

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  8. hard to walk after 1.5 hours in the car! Nice to meet you and your lovely lads :-)

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  9. Sciencegeekchic16 July 2013 at 14:31

    I don't know why I said one of your daughters...you have one boy and one girl? Silly me!
    Anyway yes she was so lovely, gave me a big high5 and was asking me about asthma and telling me of her friend at sports day.
    Yes, hills = bad, especially in heat! Xx

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