The MoRun - Greenwich Park
Mad panic in the Hutchison house. Its Sunday morning, its 7.30am, I have to leave the house in 20 mins and I still haven’t decided how I want to fashion my moustache!
When I do eventually leave the house, I'm bleeding and I've a patchwork handle bar splodged onto my face. It's too late to care what I look like now, I have my bag with me but I've forgotten my keys and the front door has closed. Anyway, I manage to meet up with Sam S and Emma J on time and thankfully for me they've gone 'full mo' too (at least with the help of a magic marker pen). As the journey goes on more runners are joining us and by Greenwich North Station our bus is full of moustached runners (well I think they're runners). We've managed to squeeze onto the back of the lower deck next to a guy wearing aviators, massive headphones, a shell suit and donning a real handle bar moustache. He's not chatty, he's in the zone.
When we get to Greenwich Park we're greeted by QPH's Charlie who is braving her first race in 6 months! The kids race is off first and it's hilarious, the effort the kids have put in with their fancy dress and mostacherinos is superb. The main event, which has been put on by the men's health charity Movember, is set on both roads and paths. The course weaves around the whole park twice and includes two evil climbs per lap! I've entered only very last minute persuading myself that a break of not running for 2 weeks is not good for me (what really persuaded me was the moustache shaped medal I saw on the website).
The aviator guy from the bus has taken his place on the front row and is now sporting an under layer shirt that looks somewhat like his internal organs. Bang. The race starts. My first aim is obviously him. The next is to get a steady rhythm and maintain it which, luckily for me, I'm able to do throughout the whole race with Sam (Thanks Sam). We pass some interesting characters: a runner and their dog both wearing a mankini, a few 118 118 runners, a sumo wrestler, a squadron of pilots in cardboard jets, a hoard of Minions, a few Where's Wallys and an array of other wild and wonderful moustaches. Eventually, as we round the penultimate corner, Sam manages to find something to get away from me and up the final hill, perhaps it's a gravitational fling from passing around me, I don't know, but it's quick! One more corner and its over. Done.
After picking up as much Haribo and chocolate milkshake as we can, we jog back to see in Emma followed by Charlie. Kudos to Emma's final sprint where she manages to take the aviator guy on the finish line. Epic!
I'll be doing the race again next year, if not for the odd atmosphere and interesting route, then for the fry up the four of us share from Heap's Sausages in Greenwich afterwards.
(We may have gone a bit selfie mad!)