Chapter Eighteen
Felicity’s early morning preparations were streamlined by the fact she had remembered to gather her race number and other essentials together along with her running gear the night before. Aware that Ready Brek probably wasn’t the type of porridge she should eat before a race, she decided upon a banana chopped in a little natural yoghurt. She took the folic acid and iron supplementsthe doctor had prescribed – not because she was pregnant but because her lack of essential vitamins and minerals had caused her dizzy spells. Felicity didn’t know if her breakfast would be enough to keep her going and slipped a small bag of Haribo sweets, from the children’s stash, into her bumbag.That should help!
Taking Pete up on his offer to sort the children so that she could go andget parked early at the seafront and establish where the toilets and start and finish lines were, Felicity gave each of the children a hug. Leaving the house, when there were four children to say goodbye to, always took longer than she anticipated, as each inevitably had pressing matters to discuss with her before she went. Rather aptly Alice was sharing the fact she was thinking about a new word,nervous-ited– meaning excited but also nervous – which Felicity confirmed was exactly how she was feeling about the race.
While Callum’s mind was full of less apt but more ponderous issues: ‘Mummy, when a baby is born, does some air get pushed out into space to make room for it?’
Felicity’s mind boggled as she looked at him, dumbfounded.
‘Right, shall we let Mummy go so that she canget sorted?’
Felicity welcomed Pete’s interruption and managed to get to the door before being drawn into the complexities of Callum’s question.
Pete hugged her. ‘Stay calm. Good luck, and we’ll see you there soon.’
‘And you won’t forget to pick up Lisa?’
‘Are you kidding? I’m planning on her keeping this lot in check while I watch my wife strut her stuff.’
‘I’m pretty surethere’ll be more wobbling than strutting, but—’
‘I don’t mind watching that either!’ Pete laughed.
Once alone in her car, Felicity felt a pang of nerves.You can do this. You’re leaving the house, and by the time you come back, you’ll have successfully run your first 5K.She glanced at herself in the rear-view mirror, hoping the resolve in her eyes would buoy her confidence. Instead, shenoticed the dark shadows caused by being unable to get to sleep until one in the morning.Oh bugger!Deciding she was no longer nervous-ited, she headed towards the beach, playing with Alice’s new word in her mind:Petri-nervous, doomed-ervous, nervous-itting myself!
Having parked her car in an overflow car park on the green, Felicity got out to hear music drifting in and out as it was carriedby the breeze. The seafront was busy. People were swarming in different directions, some warming up, some milling around, most wearing an array of brightly coloured running gear and donning a race number. It was clear that along with the sun, more competitors than she had imagined and a good-sized crowd had come out for the Easter 5K. Felicity spotted the flags demarcating the start and finishline straight away. She got signed in and then set off in search of the toilet.
Standing behind many much fitter-looking, honed runners, gremlins of doubt began creeping in to her mind and playing havoc with her confidence. Checking the time on the Garmin GPS running watch Pete and the children had surprised her with on Mother’s Day, she was beginning to feel a fraud.What was I thinking?I can’t do this!The contents of her stomach flipped, causing a loud groan, and she danced on the spot, willing the queue to move faster.
‘There’s never enough loos at these things!’
Felicity turned to the woman who was speaking to her and smiled, feeling too nervous to make chit-chat.
Assessing Felicity’s face, the woman patted her arm. ‘Is it your first time?’
Felicity nodded,wishing her stomach would stop churning.
‘I’ve only been running a year myself.’
A year!Felicity couldn’t help but think that that seemed oh so much longer than her almost three months of attempting to run.
‘Before I did my first 5K, I volunteered to help at a couple of local events. You get to see what goes on then and discover what’s what.’
Why didn’t I think of that?‘Wow,that’s really sensible. I wish I had.’
‘You’ll be fine. Just remember when you go to line up, look for those who look like you. They’ll be the newbies too. That’s who you want to be with, so you don’t get in anyone’s way or get swept up into a pace you can’t keep at the off.’
Felicity had no idea what the woman’s words suggested about her appearance and didn’t like to ask; instead shelooked gratefully at the toilet door being held open for her as the runner in front saved her the 20p entrance fee and further wise words from the lady behind her.
Having calmed her stomach, if not her nerves, Felicity decided to head for the starting line and hoped she would see Pete, Lisa and the children if not en route, then during the race. She wished they had told her where they weregoing to stand so that she could look out for them. She thought again about the woman’s words as she joined the procession of runners.Blooming cheek!But as she passed those with highly toned muscles and tanned limbs and moved further along those preparing for the race, she began to realise what the woman had meant. Felicity knew she had no hope of keeping up with some of these people. Spottingbunny outfits in three different shades of pink towards the back of the crowd, she knew she had found her own kind. The fun-runners, the sponsored-for-charity one-off-ers, and those carrying a what-have-I-signed-up-for expression – in short, the newbies. She slipped in amongst them and waited.
Hearing the final calls for everyone to line up and get ready, Felicity couldn’t help but smile.She couldn’t believe she was actually doing it. Her first 5K. As the starting pistol fired, it was some time before everyone had moved through the line. Seeing the number of spectators made her cheeks flare red. She focused on the sound of her breathing and her resolve not to trip over her own feet and land in a heap in front of everyone. Spotting some familiar faces and some amazing homemade bannersin the crowd made her smile.
‘Go, Flick!’
‘Go, Mummy, go, Mummy!’
With Pete and Lisa’s faces beaming with pride and the children looking so excited, Felicity knew giving up wasn’t an option.You can do this! Breathe deeply and visualise yourself running through that first 1K banner.
