After a long winter break with all the excess of Christmas and New Year the first Road race of the year had finally arrived, Alsager 5. Getting up early I looked out of the window to see the last remains of the previous weeks snow, there was no doubt it was going to be a cold race, so better get prepared with the extra layers on. I left the house early to make sure I could get parked and meet up with any fellow Newcastle team mates. I always dread the first race of the season, 5 miles, flat, cold, crowded and today was no exception, all the same reasons but sadly this year It was because I was a spectator and not a competitor, only the 2nd time I have missed this race in the last 10 years.
Having been plagued by injury for the last 6 months, I was going to experience a different side to Alsager 5 today. All the times I had moaned about the first race of the season and having rubbish runs, today was the opposite, moaning and complaining because I couldn’t run, oh how the tables turn!
I missed all the pre team banter, team photo and warm up pep talk from the boss, Michelle, instead I just had to plan how many places I could physically get to on the course to cheer on all fellow red, white and blue team members!
It was great to see so many club runners on the course and apologies for not remembering everybody’s name! Having never watched this race before it was fantastic to see how fast the lead runners went through the miles but it was more satisfying to be shouting at Michelle to get a move on and catch the lady in front, not very often that happens!
So a lovely fresh morning in Alsager well done to everybody who took part and one very serious lesson learnt… I won’t be complaining in the future about racing, I’ll grab every opportunity and enjoy every minute!
Hope to see you all again soon x
Rachel Tweedie.