Christmas Day Park Run

Whilst most people were enjoying bubbly in bed and opening presents on Christmas morning, I decided to partake in my first Christmas Day Park Run at Riddlesdown!

With the weather in Surrey having been rain, rain and more rain for the few days leading up to the event, I was constantly checking the Twitter feeds for confirmation of the run going ahead, and was actually surprised on Christmas Eve when they announced it was on, sludge and all!

So 8.30am came and hubby and I drove over to Riddlesdown where slowly but surely another 30 or so runners all wearing Santa hats or costumes arrived for the 9am start. I'd expected the course to be muddy, but it was beyond that - the only word I can use is swampy!

Here is us all at the start line - you can see what I mean!

Muddy start!

We all jogged off and I managed to get round the course in under 30 minutes in one piece. The problem was that in the woodland section, you didn't know how deep the puddles were - you just had to jump in them and hope for the best. Some were knee deep but this just added to the fun - it was like an assualt course!

The rain beat down on us but I just grit my teeth and got on with it, looking forward to some home made mince pies at the end which went down a treat.

The finish is in sight!

There's an event taking place on New Years Day - we'll see how jaded I am after an evening drinking with friends the night before :)

Change of charity

Unfortunately I am no longer running the marathon to raise money for Age UK, as the company I work for were unable to match the sponsorship I raise on my own, and I didn't feel it was realistic to raise £1,800 on my own.

However, I'm now really pleased to be running to raise vital funds for St Catherine's Hospice in Crawley.

St Catherine's Hospice is a charity dedicated to providing specialist end of life care to local people and their families.

I'll be visiting the hospice in January and am looking forward to seeing some of the great work they carry out.

Visit www.stch.org.uk for more information.

Don't forget to visit my new sponsorship page at http://www.justgiving.com/Carlyn-Moram1