Rejoice!

An early start this week for a very significant Sunday run with the Potters Trotters... a few weeks ago, one of our club members sadly passed away. We decided as a club to dedicate April 7th as our day to run for Kate; to celebrate her life and inspire us as runners to keep on running. 

There were little groups of runners from the club out and about everywhere; I joined a group meeting early to run their last long training run before the London Marathon. 

Ready to Run

Our plan was to run for an about an hour then join up with another group of runners training for their first half marathon... and the plan worked. We followed the Caldon Canal for a while then looped around Etruria before meeting the second group and heading out on the Trent and Mersey Canal towards Barlaston.

Getting Together

Everyone had their own personal challenges for the day; some were hoping to run further than ever before; I was hoping to continue my training momentum of the last few weeks and get to my target of 35 miles for the week - tough but manageable. But we also wanted to enjoy our day and make this a run to remember. We chatted our way along the canal and the miles passed quickly.

Another group of Potters Trotters had chosen the Dougie Mac 5k at Wedgwood as their run for Kate and we realised that we would be able to detour from the canal and make it to cheer them on at the start... as long as the railway crossing was open. After a nervous couple of minutes, the barriers opened and we could cheer on our club mates as they headed out for the race. It was great to see so many of them taking on the challenge and doing their own run for Kate.

Refuelled and refreshed, we headed back to the canal and turned for home. As the mile count increased, each of us achieved our goals for the day; high fives and smiles all round. 

Still smiling

When the run was completed, it was time to head back to Emma Bridgewater for more chat and a good cup of tea. It seemed an appropriate location for the end of our run for Kate, as it where she had worked too. We gathered in the café and drinks soon arrived... my much-needed cup of tea arrived in a trademark spotty mug with the word "rejoice" painted on the side.

Rejoice!

It seemed like the right thing to... at the end of our run for Kate, we celebrated our achievements, laughed together and ate enormous toasted tea cakes. Running has given me many joyful moments and this was one of them.

Dedicated to Kate - we'll miss you and were lucky to know you even for a short time.