By now I’ve lined up at the start of many races.  I know the pre-race jitters well.  The nervous excitement that bubbles up, especially before an important race – yes, you Lisbon!  I’ve known race delays, rain, bitter cold, fog, stark sunlight.  I’ve had contemplative silence, excited chatter, boisterous warm ups, ineffectual instructions and been deafened by badly placed speakers.  I’ve been crammed tightly into start pens like sardines and floated detached at the back of the pack.  I’ve seen toilet queues exceed infinity (and rapidly diminish as the race starts) and many people frustratingly fiddling with their GPS watches (how long does it take to find a satellite – aren’t there tonnes of them littering up the sky?).  I’ve been in races with 30,000 people and those with just 90.  I’ve lined up solo, with (more often than not) Andreas and my brother Kyle.

But today is different.  Today is not my race.  It’s my Mum’s.

Yes! We are running the Liverpool Rock ‘n’ Roll 5 K.

My Mum took up running again after a decade or so last year.  I am happy to accept blame here.  It was not an easy re-start though and her training has been plagued with niggles and injury.  There were times she thought 5 K seemed unrealistic.  Every time she got close another injury would befall her and she’d need another 2-6 weeks of rest.  But like with most things, persistence and perseverance and practice and patience paid off.

As we stand at the very back of the starting corrals Mum declares to the two girls we’ve befriended “I couldn’t even walk uphill 6 months ago, now I’m going to run 5 K”.  She is beaming and proud and has a determined glint in her eyes that I recognise well.

For me, it’s not a surprise Mum is here.  I have multiple memories growing up of home workout VHSs, of Aerobic Step Classes, of swimming lunches, of going to the gym and running on the treadmill in the garden shed.  Mum has always been active and strong and powerful.  To illustrate the point – she once by herself, moved a full standing freezer from the kitchen, out the side door and into the garage.  When the new freezer arrived it took two delivery men to move the empty freezer onto a wheelie thingy and they complained about it.  That is my Mum though.  She just gets on with it.  And if there is fun to be had, she’ll have some of that too!

Explains how we end up chatting away the massively delayed start with everyone.  And end up racing against a bunch of sweat shop running company employees in full minion fancy dress!  And how she has barely stopped grinning since we got here.

The race then.  The course follows the best of Liverpool docks, taking in the three graces and views of the Wirral.  The weather was warm enough and as always there is a bit of a wind.  Andreas and Kyle cheer us on as we near 2 K and I am having a secret race with the minions.  Mum can have them I think and I tell her as much.  As far as motivational speeches go, not great, but there is something about chasing down Gru and his band of yellow followers that encourages you a bit more!  We tick off the kilometres and I keep up a monolog for entertainment purposes.  As the finish appears I am happy in a cheeky way that the minions are just behind us.  For my Mum, I don’t think she cared about such inconsequential things.  Finishing the race was the goal, and that we did!  She even made a personal best out of it!  It is truly an honour to run this side by side!