Remember how I ran the night in 2012? And ran unleashed in 2013? Well, last night me and my mate Steph (the Marathon Slayer,) along with another 9,998 women ran rings around Sydney’s Centennial Park in this year’s Nike She Runs.
As always, Nike pulled out all the stops and thought of absolutely everything. I don’t know how they do it, but every year this event gets bigger and better. The Event Village had everything a running girl would need.
There was a plethora of portaloos, and more to the point, they were clean and relatively queueless. There was bucketloads of anti-bacterial hand gel, free face wipes and some pretty little hair elastics. There were heaps of friendly Team Nike people who walked around offering more of the same, plus a squirt of perfume! Those peeps at Nike, they think of everything!
Clearly, I should have made better use of the hair elastics because my hair was having a serious off day!
There were ample opportunities for photos, we especially liked the large letters saying She Runs, that displayed every runner’s name! There’s mine!
The giant trampoline also proved to be very popular as were the food trucks and stretch zone.
Unfortunately, the only thing Nike couldn’t fix was the weather which was baltic cold. By the time we started we were Chilly Billys but at the end we were Sweaty Betties! How’s this for a starting line up?
Photo credit Nike She Runs
The 10km course was a light fantastic with disco balls, brass bands, DJs and cheerleaders.
I have gained weight, lost speed and my night vision as bad as it was before. It wasn’t a night to break any records but it was a night to have fun and a enjoy a great run.
Whenever I take part in a running event, I always get uber-emotional somewhere along the track and last night was no exception. I am so thankful that I am healthy enough to take part, that the gratitude I feel is almost enough to stop me in my tracks (but not quite.) When I think where I was three years ago, and where I am now, I just feel so lucky. Running gives my life meaning. It makes me happy. I am so lucky to be able to run. I’m slow but I go!
After the run, we caught a glimpse of Guy Sebastian in action (for non-Aussies, he was the winner of the first Australian Idol in 2003) grabbed our free water bottles and headed off into the night.
Then we did what any tired and hungry runner would do. We did not pass GO, we did not collect 200 bucks, we drove straight here where we enjoyed a Nutella Kurtosh and a cuppa. It was kind of like carb loading in reverse, but in a good way. Twas the perfect end to a perfect night.
I can’t wait to do it all again next year!
