Active Advent Part 2, or "Running 10k through wintery dark Zürich"

Last weekend I ran the Silvesterlauf (literally, New Year's Run) in Zurich. My group (happy runners, ie anyone like to take longer than a hour) was 2'000 men and women, many in fancy dress. I followed a fabulous group of "Where's Wally?" the whole way round, and overtook an angel, a santa, a reindeer and a present! There were 611 women over 40 running this 10k and I came 587, so wasn't last. I finished in a time of 1hr 9mins 11secs (just faster than my 10k at the Greifenseelauf in 2012, which i did in 1hr 14m 30s) and I didn't walk at all. It was 4 laps of the old town, with the same b*stard hill four times, which I ran up four times!!

The atmosphere was great. My race started at 1740 (nearly missed the start as I thought I was in the 1830 group) and so it was twilight, then dark as we ran, but lots of christmas lights and supported. Managed to see Alan and the boys twice, M&P looked a little bit nonplussed, but were glad to see me I think. I was proud that I managed it, since I only started running again in September and have been managing 2 runs a week, one long (1hr) and 1 short (30 mins). And I had only worked up to running for 7 minutes and walking for 1. So all in all, a result! Oh, and here is my finishers clip - look for me in the white tshirt at about 9 seconds in - I "sprint" across the line, passing a few people as I go!!

Next steps? 10k in April, Genf half marathon in May for my @40 challenge, then Greifenseelauf half marathon in September .