Last Saturday night I was out in East London. So far so normal but, instead of being in a pub/bar/restaurant as per, I was in Victoria Park about to run We Own The Night, an all-female 10k, organised by Nike. Running is something I pretty much left behind in my teenage years but We Own The Night – a celebratory, ladies-only event in its second year, with an emphasis on having fun while getting fit – captured my imagination.

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I loved the idea of running with thousands of other women and that part of our entry fee supported Us Girls Starz, an initiative to help more girls around London get active. It helped that it was happening just around the corner from my house and I really wanted the Nike UK x Alex Monroe x Liberty finisher’s medal, with its three engraved discs in silver, gold and rose gold. If you want to bribe me to do something, a pretty piece of jewelry will pretty much always work.

Never one to be organised way ahead of time, when I picked up my race pack (which came in a cool Holly Fulton-designed tote bag and included a cute T-shirt to wear on the night) I was already four weeks behind the suggested training plan with less than a month to go. Over the subsequent four weeks I ran four 5ks and read Alexandra Heminsley’s funny, inspiring and informative book Running Like A Girl, which I highly recommend if you’re thinking about getting into running.

Woefully underprepared, I arrived at the event village an hour or so ahead of the 8pm start time. The atmosphere was kind of like a music festival but fuelled by coconut water instead of cider. I managed to find the friend I’d made a pact to run with and, what seemed like mere moments later, we were at the start line. And then we were off. There was no going back now. Twice around the park as night drew in. No problem!

The biggest surprise was how much fun it was. There were bands, DJs and hundreds of supporters along the route. Best support of the night came from Run Dem Crew, providing loud encouragement to get us round with a smile on our faces. The sense of achievement and happy high when we finished (in a slow-but-steady just-over one hour) was amazing. The post-run pizza from one of the food trucks on-site was the best food I’ve ever tasted. I already want to do it all again next year. I’m hooked!

Are any RMS readers runners too? Did you run We Own The Night? What’s the funnest run you’ve ever done? What races are you signed up for this year? Do share!

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{3 More Fun Runs}
  • PARKRUN Every Saturday at 9am runners get together in parks around the country (and worldwide) to run 5k. It’s fun, free and a great way to meet people.
  • THE COLOR RUN Aka the happiest 5k on the planet, different coloured powder is chucked on you as you run. London, Sunderland and Brighton are sold out but you can still sign up for Manchester, Birmingham and Belfast. From June to September.
  • HUMAN RACE WOMENONLY RUN Women-only 5k, 10k and 15k run through the idyllic setting of Richmond Park on 18th October. There’s a run-with-your-buggy option for new mums.

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