Same run, but no tears this time

That’s two Saturdays in a row I’ve done the 5k Parkrun on Tooting Common here in south London. Last Saturday there were tears as I crossed the finish line; yesterday there weren’t.

I’d run 5k round the common once on my own (Passing the Velux window test and “running” 5k) since finishing seven months of treatment for breast cancer at the end of February. So as I set off last Saturday at 9am with around 250 other runners and with my husband Andy running beside me, I was confident I’d be fine. But I couldn’t hold back the tears as I crossed the finish line. I guess running the same route at the same time as all these other people – and knowing thousands others were doing exactly the same thing in Parkruns up and down the country – in some way made me feel I was back in the real world after having been in some sort of parallel universe since I was diagnosed last July. Andy – for the millionth time over these past months, it seems – provided a shoulder to cry on. Thanks also to our friend and neighbour Steve, who finished just before me and ended up with me crying on his shoulder too. Seconds later, I was fine again.

Yesterday there were no tears. I finished – two minutes faster than last week – with a smile and a feeling I was moving forward on the road towards my “new normal”, whatever that ends up being.

#iloveparkrun #keepitfree

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