One proud wife

Yesterday I had a very rare Sunday off work which in the world of retail is a rarity but I had it booked off for a very good reason, my husband SplendidChap was running his first 10k race. This year was the 4th annual Run Norwich 10k race organised by Norwich City FC Community Sports Foundation which takes place in the city centre starting on Gentlemans Walk and taking runners past some of the city’s best sights such as the museum and cathedral to end up at the finish line directly outside City Hall.

Jason ( SplendidChap ) has been running for a year now, having lost a staggering 6 stone in weight he began running with the 5k Pro Runner app and having achieved not being able to run anywhere, to doing 5k with no problem, he signed himself up to do the 10k.

Having done plenty of training and doing a 10k run around where we live not 3 days prior, I had no doubt he would smash it.

Adrenaline kicked in and he was pretty nervous Sunday morning as running on your own is one thing, running with approx 5000 other people is a bit different but he turned those nerves into determination and from the second he set off, he loved it.

Now it has to be said that it was bloody hot in Norwich on Sunday, as it is every day at the moment in this heatwave so it wasn’t ideal running conditions for anyone but you can’t control the weather so they all just got on with it and sweated their bits off!

The runners were split into 5 different groups determined by their running experience and they start at 3 minute intervals. Jason was in the last group but I was adamant I wanted to be at the start line to see him off so once he went through to the runners enclosure, I set off to Gents Walk which meant cutting through to the Forum where it seemed like most of Norfolk had gathered!

I’m not that good in crowds, I get a bit panicky so I made my way through as quickly as I could hoping not everywhere would be so busy and luckily I got to the starting point and barely anyone was there so I grabbed my place right at the start line like a tourist grabbing a sun lounger on holiday. I found my place and I wasn’t shifting for anyone.

As the runners were moved down in their groups toward the start line the atmosphere grew, such a buzz of excitement from runners and spectators it was amazing. The master of ceremonies advising us all on his microphone how long there was to wait along with some great music playing. I knew when the Star Wars theme tune came on that Jason would be uber excited.

Each group were counted down from 10 and then they were off. After Jason’s group set off and I spotted him crossing the start line I headed off to Castle Meadow and managed to see him there too. Spotting one person out of 5000 takes some doing I can tell you, you can’t lose concentration or you miss them.

Then I headed to the finish line thinking that I’d try to get ahead before the rest of the city descended to the same place so I hightailed off and managed to get right on the finish line. I missed the first and second place runners finish who flew round and did it in about 35 minutes! I stayed put and at 1 hour 9 minutes I saw my man looking jubilant as he crossed the line and in a great time, 4 minutes faster than he’d done a few days beforehand.

All credit to the organisers and the volunteers, this really was such a great event and I’m so glad I took the day off work to go to it and support Jason. He’ll definitely be signing up to do it again next year and if you get a chance, I’d recommend going to it. Norwich did itself proud, it really is a wonderful city and so lovely when you see the kind of support this kind of event attracts. I’m one very proud wife.