Killer Heels & Dorney Lake

Myself and four friends have been getting ourselves fit by training for a 10K run at Dorney Lake in Taplow which took place Sunday 15th March. The aim of the run was for us all to raise as much money as possible for the charities we are donating to in honour of the fabulous Mr Wildman.



The day before the race the sensible thing to do would be to get lots of rest, stay away from the wine and have a healthy pasta dinner before getting to bed at a sensible hour! Whilst this was the plan, like all good plans can mine went to pot rather quickly. The previous week had been a particular shit one therefore when Katy turned up Saturday afternoon, instead of chilling out with a bottle of Evian we decided to hit the pub and sit in the sunshine with a bottle of Pinot! One bottle turned to two and then we where joined by Kat (another fellow runner!). From the sunny beer garden we moved onto the local Theatre to watch some friends in the local drama group perform the Regina Monologues - this seemed like a sensible plan as we needed to remove ourselves from the pub and get back to the plan of hydrating ready for our big run the next day.



The play was fantastic and was enjoyed by us all - therefore it was imperative that we remained in the bar after the show to congratulate the actors on their performace. This meant that we all obviously had to purchase further wine in order to toast the fine job they had done.................



At the end of the evening we walked the short walk back to my house from the theatre, tottering in my heels I stumbled and went over on my ankle D'oh!!! It immediatly really hurt and I had to walk home bare foot. Anyway, I climbed into bed ready to get rest before the big run!

I woke aprox 5am in a lot of pain everytime I moved my leg, I got out of bed to use the bathroom and nearly fell over as the pain was pretty bad. I got into bed and rest the foot on a pillow to try and make the swelling go down. After an hour I gave up trying to sleep and woke up one of my friends to drive me to casualty as I was concerned that I may have done some serious damage.

Got to A&E aprox 6:30 and luckily it was quiet so was seen immediatly and sent to X-Ray. The doctor reviewed the X-Ray and luckily no fractures or breaks (although he pointed out a floating piece of bone from an old injury - odd!!). He explained that I had sprained the muscle across the top of my ankle and needed to keep off it for at least 48 hrs and give it time to heel. Hmmm, this was not good seeing as I should be crossing the start line for the 10K at midday.

The doctor strapped up my ankle and it immediatly started to feel a bit better now it was supported. I got back home around 7:30 and decided to keep the foot up as long as possible and attempt the run. I know it was not the most sensible thing to do but I would kill myself for weeks if I didnt at least try - the run was for my Richie after all, and a few days before he died he attempted to squeeze his swollen feet into shoes in order to take me dancing for my birthday - therefore if he could attempt that for me then god damn it I could do this for him. My friends obviously attempted to talk me out of it but my mind was made up.

As we headed across to Dorney Lake I was beggining to worry that I would not be able to do this but worked on some mind over matter techniques that Richie had talked about when he was alive. When we arrived I started to feel better - there was a real buzz of excitement about the place and I picked up on this and was itching to start.

Myself, Katy, Pauly, Kat and Henry lined up with the rest of the runners and waited for the gun to fire to start of the 10K. At last the gun fired and we were off! The day was very hot and sunny and as we set off. The ankle was pretty sore for the first couple of miles but the more I ran the more it must have loosened up and I just kept my focus on Richie to ensure that I did not give up.

I finished with a respectful time of just under 60mins and came second out of the gang of us running! Never been so relieved as when I crossed the finish line though!

After the run we all got showered and met for a late Sunday lunch and re-hydrated with a couple of bottles of champagne (never one to be sensible!). Safe to say we were all tucked up in bed very early that evening.

Best news is that so far we have raised over £3,000 between the two charities we have set-up in Richies name.