Sunday 3rd March 2013 saw us at Silverstone      to support Adam and Ashley running a half marathon for the CLDF.   There were at least 10,000 runners, most of whom were the dedicated fruit cakes that love running twenty six miles and torturing  their bodies, and the remainder were the unsung heroes, who were raising money for their respective charities.  They were the; overweight middle aged, family and friends of those with serious illnesses, the brave hundreds that had spent a couple of weeks jogging and had little more than sheer willpower to keep them moving past the blister, cramps and bodies wanting nothing more than a cold beer and a fag.  I found these people, Adam and Ashley included, very inspirational as they struggled against the desire to quit.

The other side of the coin were the money grabbing swine at the race course. Everyone had to pay a £20 registration fee to run, including the charities and if they wanted to be listed as a ‘charity’ entrant, there was another £100 to pay. To launch the event as a charity day and rake in well over £200,000 without all the cash from the catering, is in my books usury.

The weather was very overcast and once again we had an icy cold wind blowing, making it a miserable day for runners and spectators alike.  By the time the race started appropriately at high noon,  there was a hint of sunshine and a mild rise in the temperature.  Adam said this was more of a hindrance than a help as when the temperature fell again and the cold wind returned it chilled everyone and caused him cramps.

There were three viewing points that were easy to get to, we had already had a mini-marathon trek from the car park to the start, and although they were mostly by the stands all the seating was locked up out of use.  I had carried a camping chair with me as I knew Annette was still having trouble with her knee and would have difficulty standing for the three hours I estimated would be the time it would take them to finish. It was just as well as, while the three, ten and finish line were all pretty close, the seven mile point was almost back at the car so we stuck in the one area. That meant after seeing them do the three miles we had about a 90 minute wait before they came back round.

Meanwhile, all the dedicated fruit cases were whizzing past, hardly breaking a sweat and throwing away their untouched energy drinks with a theatrical flourish in front of the largest section of the crowd.  I was thoroughly fed up off all this by the time the 8000 odd ‘professionals’ had passed, but what a refreshing  sight to see the genuine runners as mentioned above.  It was very moving to see so many people caring for others in such a painful way. They were the ones with the very spirit of British determination that may be best summed up in an Americanism, they had  TRUE GRIT.  Well done to them all.