Starting the Dam to Dam race
21st September 2005
Hi Everyone,
Firstly many apologies for the long delay in writing this piece
and also a massive Thank You to everyone for your lovely, kind messages
and congratulations.
Things have been going well but also busily since Helsinki. We
took a holiday and enjoyed relaxing, lying on the beach and getting
the chance to do things we can't fit in while in training mode!
I was also pretty busy writing the new chapters for the paperback
version of my book and fitting in other commitments, such as the
IAAF Athletes Commission meeting which was productive and hopefully
we can continue to build on this. I have also been able to fit in
a few photo shoots, the results of which you will get to see soon.
After Helsinki we spent a few days catching up with family and
friends and then headed away. My body recovered pretty quickly but
it was nice to be able to do other things for a bit and I enjoyed
the time off. However, I was also glad to get back running again
and now the starting back stiffness is gone I'm enjoying working
my way back to fitness.
We just arrived back in Font Romeu and the weather is beautiful
here – crisp, clear blue skies and the trails are in good
condition with only a few cows and horses to dodge!
I'm not in any rush at the moment but my next race will be the
Nike Run London 10km event on Sunday 16th October and I'm really
looking forward to that. It's always such a fun atmosphere and this
year they are expecting 45,000 runners at the three venues, Hyde,
Victoria and Battersea Parks. I've already done a couple of the
training runs in Hyde Park which I really enjoyed. The theme this
year is to encourage Londoners to get out and run year round and
take advantage of the beautiful parks and running terrain in the
city. It's not just about the one race, there are training plans
and then other smaller races to keep you motivated year round.
Last weekend I was at the Dam to Dam Loop race in Amsterdam, Holland
and really enjoyed that. It was a brilliant carnival like atmosphere.
It is a ten mile race with about 30,000 runners taking part. As
I'm not yet in shape to race I was encouraging the runners and also
starting several of the waves. This gave me a great opportunity
to appreciate the scale and the enthusiasm of the event from a perspective
you never get chance to see when you're racing. The race was set
off in waves and I started 6 or 7 of them – amazingly the
final wave goes off about 2 and 1/2 hours after the elite field!
I was up on a start gantry and could see a sea of runners and colours
flowing through underneath me, then we went right up in a crane
and could see the whole of Amsterdam and a snake of runners weaving
its way to Zaandam where the race finished. Afterwards we went to
the finish area where the carnival was still ongoing, it was a brilliant
family day out for so many people.
The next day I was at the Nike European Headquarters in Hilversum
and once again a very big thank you for the warm welcome I got there.
I even got to go out on a run through the beautiful forest there
with around 50 employees, many of whom had run the day before.
Good Luck to everyone and I'll be in touch soon I promise!
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