For those of you that don't know, CRY stands for Cardiac Risk in the Young. It's a growing charity that not only does great work, but is truly appreciative of every single penny it gets. When Jack passed away 5 years ago it was put down to an underlying heart disease that had never been picked up, and our whole community was left asking 'why'. Jack's death has affected a lot of people in a lot of different ways, but the support of - and for - CRY has been constant. Since that terrible day over £15,000 has been raised by Jack's family, friends and even friends of friends - he's made an impact that he would've never imagined possible. Over the years we've been runners, cyclists, football players, raffle ticket sellers, dashing Santa Claus's, auctioneers and much more. The importance of CRY as a charity is invaluable - all money raised goes towards heart screenings for young people around the country, in the hope that any problems are found and lives are saved. So yes, when Rosa tagged me in that Facebook post there was no way that I would turn down the opportunity to do my bit, in memory of the late, great Jack Boulton.
Held in Wembley, Run to the Beat was advertised as a flat course, with famous DJs dotted around the course to keep us all going - we'd be running to the beat, duh... Now the line-up was released and the only person I recognised on the list was Nick Grimshaw. Don't get me wrong, everyone loves a bit of Grimmy but COME ON he can't carry the whole bloody thing. Sister Rachel assured me that most of the DJs had at least one song that had been played on 1Xtra, so I wasn't too bothered. The whole Jolliffe clan went up on the Saturday, shopped in London for a bit but spent our evening in the hotel watching X Factor in our pjs. Whatever, I had more important things to worry about. I'd pledged to raise over £200 and get under 47 minutes for the first time.
As a regular runner I was worried that people wouldn't want to donate or think it wasn't that much of a challenge. Putting any idea of this to bed STRAIIIIGHT away, I decided to aim for a minute and a half PB of sub-47 and hoped people would realise how flipping hard that would be for my little stumps. Luckily I have the greatest family and friends in the entire world who - with unwavering faith in my running ability - helped me reach my target AND THEN SOME before the big day. I went to the start line knowing I'd raised over £400 for CRY and that was enough to keep me (almost) going for the whole race. It's funny how much more determined you feel when you have such a worthy cause behind you.
I ran the first 5km in 22.38 - this is close to my PB. I wish I could tell you more about it but I'd made the rookie error of wearing brand new shorts on the day and they were firmly lodged into my nether regions. I'd handily done a once-over with my razor the night before otherwise I probably would've exposed even more than was already on show... So yes my first 5km was spent pulling pink lycra out of my ass and hoping that no one noticed I was wearing a bright green 'novelty' thong. Excellent.
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| If you look very closely... |
The second 5km was definitely a 'hang on for dear life' moment. At 5.5km there was a whacking great hill (NOT ADVERTISED!!!!), at which point the 45 minute pacer zoomed past me. He was quite tasty on the old eyes and had a tan almost as good as my (fake) one so I tried to snuggle in with him. Unfortunately this didn't work and therefore I had the mother of all tantrums; I started walking, then stomping, up the hill before screaming "NOOOO" and remembering what I was there for. Jack was always on the cross-country teams at school, despite never training, and he always used to finish in the top 10 with such an air of casualness. He must've been knackered at the time, but would never fuss. And here I was having a sulk over a little hill. I gave myself a good talking to, picked my knees up and made it over that hill! I didn't stop until the finish line - so thank you Jack.
The last 2km was by far the best - the aforementioned DJs were nowhere to be seen on the course until this point and (OH SURPRISINGLY) the addition of some banging tunes helped me on my merry little way. At the 8km marker I spotted Mum before she spotted me and started waving like a mad woman. She told me I was doing really well and for once I actually believed her. My watch said 37.30 so I knew I had 9 and half minutes to make the last 2km... Cutting it fine, especially as my thighs were slapping together like two drunk sumo wrestlers and I was worried about chaffing away my perfect tan. Dad and Rach were expertly positioned on the bridge above the course - it took me a while to find them but I managed a quick wave as I went under the bridge and heard Dad's voice booming all over Wembley.
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| My name is in there - somewhere.. |
I finally reached the 400m to go sign with my watch at 45 minutes exactly... TWO MINUTES TO RUN 400M? I do that easily in training, this will be a doddle. LOL, well I was very much mistaken. Just for the banter there was another hill into the finish and I felt like I was going backwards and that my shorts were just going upwards. Again, thoughts of why I was doing this and the generosity of people who'd donated spurred me on more than anything else I've ever felt when I was running. I didn't ever care that it WOULD be a PB, I wanted to get under 47 minutes for CRY, for the people who'd had enough faith in me to give me money, and most importantly for Jack. At about 100m to go I put on a classic short person sprint, arms and legs going everywhere and my thighs moving so fast that they merged into one big, wobbly piece of flesh. I heard the Jolliffes at the finish which was AMAZING. Not sure why, but Dad was continually shouting "EM, EM, EM" - maybe a new cheerleading chant? I have to admit I did overtake probably like 15 people in the home straight HAHA YOU LAZY FUCKS, and when I crossed the line I looked at my watch.
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| Dat assssss |
FOURTY-SIX FIFTY-FIVE. 46.55. 46 minutes and 55 seconds. I punched the air like I was attempting to get on the cover of next year's brochure and realised I had the biggest grin on my face, like EVER.
Mum, Dad and Rach were waiting in the finishing area so we all hugged and OH, how we laughed at my camel toe, and then we went to find the CRY ladies. They were absolutely amazing, gave me a goodie bag, took my photo and told me my tan was great.
I told them why I was running for them and mum explained how much we, as a community, have done for them in the past 5 years. They were genuinely impressed and so grateful, which made me feel all fuzzy inside and suddenly very proud of Keynsham, Saltford and the surrounding areas. Events like this are so important, and where possible, everyone I know has contributed in some way or another. Jack has made us all better people, and we will never forget him. RIP x
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