Boyne in the Bag !

Oh yes, yes, yes, yes , yes....oh God, oh God, oh God,....I'm nearly there....so close......YEEEEEEESSSSSSS ! Up and over Rathmullen Hill. What a feeling, what a day, what a course....what an achievement ! The KOK's did themselves proud on Sunday last, accompanied by my baby sis The Ambassadrice. Months of preparation, planning, conversation, panic and hope brought us to the climax of our running career to date...the Boyne 10k. Heralded by most as one of the most challenging 10k's to take on, we arrived in Drogheda to an electric atmosphere and an air of quiet fear and excitement. We did our statutory toilet visit , and then another one, some gentle stretching and joined the throng outside the church for the warm up. Now the boy band who warmed us up must have forgotten that we were actually due to do a run after the "warm up", so as soon as our first bead of sweat broke and our breathing got laboured, we retired to a quiet corner and finished our more yoga-like warm up.
Into the throng we went, surrounded by lycra clad athletes, in the over 50 minute section, leaving the elite up front to lead the charge. And off we went, pacing ourselves beautifully, as if out for our Sunday stroll, allowing the keen, fit and insane run past us. The Ambassadrice and Fluffy Duffy soon disappeared off in the distance and the rest of us just kept happily jogging along, giggling, chatting and casting admiring glances at the truly gorgeous young man in front of us who stopped for water and turned back to offer it to a friend who was struggling....love at first sight ! Of course his lycra clad hamstrings and taut buttocks also helped !
Up Mell, out the old Slane Road, round to Oldbridge where Fat Freddie, GASP and my boys were there to cheer us on.....bless them ! Water bottles were handed to us and the jelly babies consumed to face the demon that is Rathmullen Hill......we took it in our stride and kept on running, down the other side, along the river, across the bridge and we sprinted the last kilometre up the last final slope, helped along by the Samba band and crossed the finish line feeling like Olympians.....totally elated and ridiculously proud of ourselves. Buzzing we walked back to the car park where Fluffy Duffy presented us with custom made medals, which we wore with pride all the way home to our Epsom Salts baths , before putting on the glad rags and make up and hitting Nosh for a well earned dinner and a few wee drinkies. I was touched and delighted that the KOK's had arranged beautiful flowers, balloons and a cake for my upcoming birthday, but at 9.45 happily headed home to the bed, with a contented smile on my face....mission accomplished. Such self control and sense was not however the order of the day for certain KOK's who proceeded to go on a cocktail trail of the local establishments until the wee hours culminating in 3 chicken wraps in the Chinese at 3.00 am. Those KOKs shall remain nameless but she who is also known as the Potty Trainer, did not look quite as glamorous heading home as she did when she arrived out ! Another KOK has sworn off Jelly Babies for life due the immediate dramatic effect they had on her intestines.
The photos which followed from all angles were hysterical, especially one KOK who seems to have difficulty keeping her eyes open for any photos, and looks a little like she is the midst of an amazing sexual experience in every shot...lucky girl...running only makes me smile !
We were delighted to see that we featured heavily in the warm up photos even though we only did 5 minutes of it, and the photo of the group of us at the top of Rathmullen looks as if I am about to collapse, while the others look fresh as daisies...I guess I'm more Farmers Journal than Sports Illustrated !
A great day, a great event, a great achievement. Boyne in the Bag ! Now what we will we do next ?????