I need to start writing again

I keep reading all these running and triathlon books, and I get filled with the urge to exercise and write. So why aren't I writing? It's time I put down the Candy Crush Soda and took up the keyboard again. Plus I've just discovered Blogger has an app for that. Brilliant (although, not so much now, as I discover it doesn't work all that well. Grumph).
 So, let me take you back to late last year. It was a cold Sunday, the last before Christmas, and I'd signed up for the Greenwich 10k merely because there was a Christmas pudding medal and mince pies at the end. Many of my Triton friends had signed up for the same reason, so I wasn't alone in wondering exactly what I was doing. I'd never really done a 10k properly before, the standard distance triathlons I'd done earlier in the year fell a bit short at 9.3 k. I'd also done a 70k bike ride the day before (why not?) .
So there we were, freezing in our Santa hats (there were others in reindeer, snowman and even frog onesies!) being assaulted by Maria Carey telling us all she wanted for Christmas was you, hoping that we could start soon before we froze to the spot. Caroline was having her now usual moment of panicking that she'd be really slow. I did keep telling her I'd be behind her all the way but she didn't seem to believe me.
We finally lined up - a little nearer the start than I would have liked - and set off. I tried for the first few km to keep up with Caroline, and we even had a comedy sing along to Fairy tale of New York, but soon it became obvious that I was holding her back, and I started to think that she was wasting energy checking I was still behind her! Eventually she listened to me encouraging her to go on ahead and I ran on my own. It really helped that Greenwich Park is where we train during the summer so I knew most of the paths we ran along. Plus the big hill I ran up thinking, if I can do this on my bike with loaded panniers I can bloody do it on two legs! I'd also picked up the technique of swearing at the hill after a hill repeat session a week or so before. What I said to the hill in my mind would probably burn this blog and is completely unwriteable!
I couldn't believe that we would have to do another circuit of the hill after the first one and worse that members of my tri club were coming back down the hill when I was only coming up it! I came round the 5k mark just after 30 min so I reckoned I wasn't doing too badly for me. I'd managed to offload my hat and gloves after warming up over that lap! The second lap was hard. There were so many points I wanted to walk, but I managed to convince myself to just keep running, otherwise I'd be disappointed. I tried to cheer everyone I saw from the Tritons on. Even some others who looked like they were suffering up the hill.
Somehow I managed to keep running up that last hill, swearing all the way, promising I'd never complain about it again. I made it up and ran for the finish. There was a bit of a mad sprint off with another runner but I just didn't have anything left. I'd made it! I looked at my watch and had finished in 1 h 3 min. I was overjoyed, I was sure that was faster than anything before and a new PB for me.
The next hour or so was a bit of a blur for me - we found the medals and eventually some mince pies, said our thankyous to the great supporters who had cheered us on, and finally I could get on a bus like a creaky old lady and go home to my sofa.

Me after the race with my pudding medal! I'd managed to put my Santa hat on as well...

When I got home, not only did I discover I had done a PB, but I'd managed to beat my previous time (which I'd inadvertently set a couple of weeks before in training) by a whole 3 minutes!