Graham’s Blog – The Thorpe Half-Marathon (25.02.2018)

I didn’t know what to expect from this one but did check that it wouldn’t just be running laps around the Thorpe Park attractions. My choice of music on arrival for the car park queue did see others joining in and dancing away to Pete Tong & The Heritage Orchestra’s Ibiza Classics version of Killer. This was followed by people dancing in the toilet queues, more to do with the wait time and severe cold.

The run did start and finish at the car park and service areas of Thorpe but then led the runners through 13 miles of the beautiful Surrey countryside. This one was not as hilly as I had expected but still had some decent inclines at around 6 and 9 miles to keep you on your toes. Good support and live music around the course – especially the band in mile 12 who really spurred us on. Once again brilliantly organised and thank you to the ever-present army of volunteers.

THE COLDEST ONE – HOPEFULLY

The real battle of the day was always going to be the temperature at the start which was around -0.5c and a wind chill of -6c! I don’t think I have ever seen so many people running with hats and gloves not forgetting the full length running tights. I usually like to soak up the atmosphere at the finish are and spend time encouraging other finishers. Not this time I’m afraid – medal, t-shirt, post-race fuel (great selection by the way),a few quick photos and then straight into the car with heating on full blast.

On reflection I really enjoyed this one although my knee is tending to wear out around 10 miles at the moment. Need to watch that one! Although it was cold the skies were completely cloud free and the sun even managed to warm us at times. Great company from fellow runners on the course including chatting to a lady from Brighton about the work of our charity and a brilliant conversation with a guy who was asking why I wear aftershave whilst running. Anyway, he clearly liked it as he wanted to know the brand (Bvlgari Aqva if you’re interested).

Best Moments – Staying over with my family in tow to avoid a 4.30am start and a great day visiting Windsor and its magnificent castle. Meeting the lady who was using this run as a warm up for the London Marathon – truly inspirational.

20TH BIRTHDAY UPDATE

We are already nearly two months into our 20th birthday year. So what’s going on so far? The Treat Kitchen in Nottingham have chosen us as their Charity of the Year and are creating a brand new sweet named in our honour! A competition to choose the flavours of the Double Impact sweet is still open – enter here. If that wasn’t enough, four of their staff are running the Robin Hood Half Marathon to support us, including one of the owners.

IKANO ROBIN HOOD HALF MARATHON – SEPTEMBER 2018

We are looking for 20 people to run the Robin Hood Half Marathon in September. Would you like to join us and raise funds to support our work? Contact us or to find out more visit the charity partners info page on the marathon website, click here. Thanks to The Treat Kitchen and Buckles Solicitors who are already signed up to run alongside staff from Café Sobar and Double Impact. Great to see some of our service users on the list now too.

If you would like to make a donation to the campaign please click here.

NEXT RUN

Next up it’s Liverpool, but I may have to add one in before then as I am still one behind my original schedule. I’ll post some updates on Twitter for you to follow: @DI_Recovery & @DI_Runs. Eight down and twelve to go!

Thanks for reading.