Time - the longest distance between two places

Yes, I know there was something missing from the race report in my last blog post.
If you’re not a runner you may not have noticed, but if you are, you’ll be saying “yes, you beat the three little pigs, but what time did you do?”
It’s not that I’m embarrassed about my time...well okay, maybe a little. I am pleased with myself for completing the race. Hell, I’m pleased I even got to the start line given the events of the previous two years.

I think part of the reason I didn’t include my time is that I feel like it doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to some slow person who has been sick and has been masquerading as me for the past two years. I think she’ll bugger off soon so (slightly) faster me can come back.
To put my 2010 time into context, let's compare it to my previous times.
2007
- 21.1km:  1:58:14  (5:36min/km)
- 42.2km:  4:41:30 (6:40min/km)
2010
- 21.1km:  2:26:30 (6.55min/km)
What amazes me most about the above is not just how much faster I ran my fastest half marathon compared to what I did a couple of weeks ago, but how much faster I ran double the distance! I ran a full marathon 15 seconds a kilometre faster than I did the half marathon. How is that even possible?
Thankfully I have sensible, kind friends/family who give sage advice after listening to me moan about my lack of speed. One friend, Sally, said something like, “Yeah, you’re hopeless – it’s not like your body has been through anything much in the past two years.”
And that is what you have to keep reminding yourself when you get back to (or start) exercising after breast cancer treatment. I have to remember I did very little or no exercise for almost a year and although I’ve now been running again for a year, my body is still getting over the treatment. I only need to look at the state of my fingernails to know that I’m still feeling the effects (chemo makes your nails split and break).
The good news is that every day that passes I feel more like my old self. I’m not there yet but I’m well on the way. It might be another six months or it might be a year but I know I'll feel 100% like me soon.
Next year I might even beat the guy in the full red body suit.
 (NB - I would swear the guy I saw had a blue body suit on...but by the end of the race I was delirious so who knows? Maybe it was a mood body suit like the mood rings that change colour depending on how you’re feeling.)