Team PS At The London Pride Run 2008

"Citius, Altius, Fortius" is the Olympic motto, and this last week it has been impossible to avoid being caught up, at least a little, in the Games over in Beijing. Unfortunately, for the somewhat less athletic of us, taking part in any sport is more a case of "Rubor, Calor, Dolor" than anything else!

With that in mind, a group of more the adventurous Pink Singers decided to brave the risk of inflammation, and went on an jaunt on Saturday through Victoria Park for this year's 10km Pride Run. There was, initially, quite a bit of enthusiasm for the run from the choir, but with the usual attrition rate for various reasons, the numbers were whittled down to a hard-core six: Annie, Ben P, Claire G, Hsien, Mark and Michael Da.

The biggest fear had been that it would rain on the day, and given that it had been pouring down just two days' prior, it was definitely within the realms of possibility. As it turns out, meeting at Mile End tube, the sun was trying to peek out from behind the clouds, and there was a pleasant breeze blowing - the perfect weather for a run. I know all of us had been training a little for the run. Some Pinkies like Michael go for runs regularly, and since I joined the Frontrunners, so does the Pink Insider. But that said, for the majority, 10km was an unimagineable distance which they had never even attempted before - just showing up to the start was a definite victory!

We all met at the northeast end of the park where were got changed and pinned the conveniently matching number tags to our Pink Singers T-shirts. There were loads of people there, but the run was very well organized, and it never felt chaotic. Of the 800 people who registered, 577 people (or thereabouts) actually ran. After dropping our bags off in the clubhouse, we went on to the start point. Ooh ooh! Andy Bell from Erasure was there to honk the horn to set us off.

And away we went! The route itself was a fairly simple one: three laps of the park though shaded avenues with no hills. I started the run at a leisurely pace alongside Michael Da, but before long some of the last year's worth of running paid off and I pulled ahead. There were some tremendous runners competing, and I was lapped at 6km by the eventual winner. What is most annoying is that I put my slow running down to my short legs, but this guy was actually significantly shorter than me (damn!). He completed the course in 32 minutes, an unbelieveable time, considering that I finished a good quarter of an hour or so later. The real dark horse was Claire. I know she runs quite a bit, and she certainly has the physique (i.e. long and lean), so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at how fast she actually ran, but she really was a speeding bullet, and she finished right next to me.

As I mentioned, for some of Team PS, 10km was a never-before-attempted distance, and completing it was quite the achievement. When things were getting rather shakey on the ground, it was good to hear the calls of support from the Pinkies who had come to cheer us on. Joey and Charles were there, as was Emelda, and Celso and his friend. Warren also had a word with the race commentator, and whenever a Pinkie ran past the stand, he'd call out "Go Pink Singers!" which was a great psychological boost. Thanks to their help, I am really happy to say that all of us made it through the final rainbow arch, and in pretty good time too. We all walked away with our medals and our goody bags. Then there were the unexpected perks, as Ben discovered, of sharing a changing room with dozens of fit, sweaty atheletes...

Congratulations to all of us - go Pinkies! Pride Run 2009 anyone?