We did it!

After months of training, fundraising, tweeting, blogging and more training, Team Bangs on the Run finally pounded the streets of Paris on Sunday. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my certificate to prove it. 

My time: 2 hours 3 minutes 21 seconds

I was totally stunned when I found out my official time. As I said before, I was aiming to get round a) in one piece and b) in 2 hours 30 mins or less, so it's safe to say I am chuffed with my time and the fact that I ran the whole way round. Before Sunday, I'd never run that far without stopping for a drink/stretch/walk/pee/cry, and I am immensely proud of my body for being able to carry me that far without needing to do any of that. A testament to training, rest days, eating and drinking properly beforehand. 

The race was amazing. But that wasn't the case the whole way through. Here are the highs and lows (I'll update with pictures as soon as I can):

Highs:

• Bumping into Alicia, one of my best friends from secondary school as I entered the Parc Floral. We hadn't seen each other in years and there she was! 
• The beautiful (if chilly) weather.
• The amazing crowds (especially the adorable kids)
• Spotting Alicia's boyfriend Bruce at about 8km and running with him until...
• ...THE FIREMEN. FRENCH FIREMEN. FYI, this is where the hot firemen cliché comes from.
• The entertainment around the course - brass bands, rock bands, bongo players, ABBA tribute bands, drunks...
• Being cheered on by Jon and Michael (our amazing Team Bangs cheerleaders) at 16km - that really kept me going.
• Realising I was going to run the whole freaking way!
• The atmosphere of the final 500m.
• Crossing the finish line, bursting into tears and being reunited with some of the Team Bangs girls.

Lows:

• Not having time to go to the toilet before the race (6 portaloos? Seriously?!).
• The bottleneck for the first few kilometres.
• Trying not to break my neck running past the rehydration stations - orange peel and bottle tops everywhere.
• The cobbles.
• The hill at 9km.
• The even bigger hill at 17km - that one kept on climbing to the 18km mark. Not cool, Paris.
• Sticky tarmac - a result of hundreds of litres of Powerade being chucked away. 
• Getting my miles and kilometres muddled up (for some reason I thought I was running 20.1km, not 21km) and having to dig deep to get that final kilometre out of my legs.
• Not running with any of the Team Bangs girls.

Now, I'm going to try not to get too emotional (I can't promise anything, I still get a bit teary when I think about the race), but I want to say a huge THANK YOU to some amazing people:

All of you fantastic people who sponsored Team Bangs on the Run: We ran for you, for the money you'd so kindly donated to Refuge. Thanks to you, we've raised over £6,000, which will help women and children escaping domestic violence in so many ways. 

Muireann (Bangs and a Bun): Our fearless leader, hero and inspiration. It's because of you that any of this happened. Thank you for your support, encouragement and kick-ass attitude, and congratulations on knocking 25 minutes off your previous half marathon PB!

Team Bangs on the Run: What an incredible group of women. Without you, I wouldn't have made it through my training and to Paris. Love you!

Gemma (Jungle GG): I only signed up because I thought you were joking, but thank you so much for making me do it.

Nike and Shock Absorber: Thank you for the awesome t-shirts, printing costs and amazing sports bra - my tatas are forever grateful!

Check out Bangs' Team Bangs in Paris video to meet some of the team and see how we got on. Also, there's still time to donate on our JustGiving page for Refuge, so if the urge to donate takes you, don't fight it. 

PS: Sorry this post is late, I'm still having laptop woe. 

Lists

I love a bit of organisation. I plan trips away with military precision (and have been known to send Al documents on possible holiday destinations, including maps, beach quality and expected temperature), I even have a lovely leather travel wallet for my holiday gubbins. This time round, my organisation skills have truly failed me.

Above is my to-do list. It's the first Paris-themed to-do list I've written. This is hugely out of character for me - by now (3 days to go), I'd usually have written several drafts of that list, with most of the items crossed off. This is what happens when you get yourself a social life - your anal list-making qualities suffer.

However, I have had a rather fabulous week so far. Monday was my last PT session before Paris, Tuesday was Anna Nicole the Opera night (A.MAZE.), and yesterday I went for a lovely dinner with Al's mum and his brother's girlfriend at First Floor Restaurant, which is just the prettiest eaterie in the world.

But all the fabulousness has meant late nights, not enough sleep, and no time to even think about what I need to do for Paris, never mind doing it. So I'm sadly having to cancel tonight's plan to see Al play with the lovely Xantoné Blacq at Mau Mau, and instead I'll be zipping to Oxford Street for some last-minute essentials, doing laundry, calling my bank, digging out my travel adaptor, packing a small case (repeat: I do NOT need to take four pairs of shoes), learning to speak French from scratch and getting some much-needed sleep. And panicking about all the stuff I haven't written on the list. I wrote the above list about 10 minutes ago, and I've already added two more things.

PS: Thank you so much to all my lovely friends (real life and virtual) who've sponsored Team Bangs on the Run so far. If you haven't - there's still time to show us and Refuge some love on our JustGiving page.

I'm back!

I am SO sorry. Where the hell have I been? Well, actually, nowhere, but my poor laptop is still dead and as much as I love my iPhone, it's no good for blogging. I've been having major blog withdrawl symptoms though, so I've hijacked my work PC (and my lunch break) for a quick catch-up.

There's so much I want to tell you about: the Love Run; my birthday; my fabulous new Shock Absorber sports bra; the fact that my boyfriend's started running(!) - but for now, I just want to concentrate on one thing:

THE PARIS HALF MARATHON IS SIX DAYS AWAY!

How did that happen?! It feels like it's been months away for ages, and now *wham* it's in six days.

Right now (and this changes on an hourly basis), I'm feeling confident and excited. I've been cranking out my long runs at a strong and steady pace, taking care of my legs and overall flexibility, and continuing my strength training to ensure my posture and alignment is what it should be. I had my last long run yesterday (8.8 miles), and today is my last PT session before Paris (we usually work out mid-week, but I should be winding down the exercise by then apparently). I'm planning to do a couple of short runs in the next couple of days, and then stop on Thursday to give my muscles a rest, so everything is ready for Sunday.

I've been getting really nervous too, and throwing myself a bunch of 'what if's - basically trying to drive myself crazy. What if I have a bad day and a really crap run? What if I trip over my own feet (it has been known) and injure myself before the run? What if I need the toilet half way through (I really don't want to spend 30 minutes in the toilet queue)? I'm trying not to let those thoughts get to me because, well, if any of them happen, they happen, and I'll just have to deal with it (I say this now, but you know I'll sulk like a muhfugga if I do injure myself).

When I started training for the Paris Half Marathon, I decided not to set myself a target time. Mainly because a) I'd never run anything over 10 km before so how the hell would I know when I'd finish? and B) I'd be so chuffed to finish the race, time wouldn't matter. But having done all the training, I want to come in under 2 hours 30 minutes (the average time of yesterday's run put me in at just under 2 hours, but I know I wouldn't have been able to maintain that for another 4 miles). If I come in under that, I'm going to eat a cupcake/drink a cocktail for every minute I had to spare. How's that for incentive?

I'm going to try and blog lots more this week - mainly because I need an outlet for the running anxiety, but man, I've missed you guys!

On a completely different note, I'm going to see Anna Nicole The Opera tomorrow night - what the hell do I wear to that?!

Run Sweeney Run: £3,000!

A quick Team Bangs on the Run update for you: We're at £3,000!

To everyone who has donated so far - THANK YOU! It means so much to us, and more importantly, it means so much to the people who are helped by Refuge.

If you haven't yet sponsored us - please drop by our JustGiving page and give anything you can, even if it's just a couple of pounds. We're all training so hard, and reaching that target for Refuge would just be incredible. If you need a few more reasons to sponsor us, take a look at where your money goes.

Thank you again, you are FABULOUS.

Run Sweeney Run: The Challenge

Last month, my dear friend and fitness buddy GG launched this across the Twittersphere at me:

Obviously, I assumed she was drunk (she's Scottish and it was 6pm on a Saturday):

And then:

I took this as a promise that she'd buy me Louboutins if I agreed to do it (you see how I got there, right?), and I'd be stupid to turn that deal down - I was in. 

As it happens, GG wasn't drunk, and I'd just signed up to run the Semi Marathon de Paris - that's the Paris Half Marathon to you and me. 

Since then, 16 other amazing women have signed up to be part of Team Bangs on the Run, headed by the fabulous Bangs and a Bun. We're running for Refuge, an incredible charity who provide emergency accommodation and support for women and children experiencing domestic violence. 


Now, dear strangers/friends/family, this is where you come in. The lovely Muireann (aka Bangs) clearly has a lot of faith in us all if the fundraising target she's set us is anything to go by, and we'll need your help to smash it. Please take a minute to visit Team Bangs on the Run's JustGiving page and donate anything you can. And if you have been kind enough to donate, don't forget to drop me a comment so I can let the world know how fabulous you are!


If you haven't already, you can meet Team Bangs on the Run and our fearless leader here.