I did my Race for Life on Saturday, and I'm very pleased with myself. If you'd told me a couple of months ago that I'd be running 5km in July, I would have laughed. But I've done it, and raised over £100 for Cancer Research.

Before the race, there was a mass Zumba-style warm-up, which was good fun, and as my partner said, it was very surreal to see thousands of women all exercising together in a park. It was also very moving to read some of the poignant messages on their backs (where you complete 'I race for life for...').

The start was very crowded, as you'd expect, although what I didn't expect was how many in the so-called jogging group would be walking. This made it a bit tricky to keep jogging, but I managed.

About 200 yards before the finish line my OH shouted some words of encouragement, and as the crowd thickened towards the line I managed a 'sprint finish' - well, running a bit faster than I had been. My time was about 40 minutes, which isn't very impressive - a woman doing the 10k crossed the line a couple of minutes later! - but I'm satisfied with it for my first 5k in over a decade.

My OH has been very encouraging throughout my training, and has been inspired to start jogging himself. He started on Sunday, using the six-week 0-5k training plan from the Runner's World website that I used.

My next run is tonight - I'm looking forward to it!

Are you doing a Race for Life, or training for one? Let me know how it's going - or how it went.

Find out more about Race for Life here - with details of runs, training plans, and all the info you need.

Read my last Race for Life blog

Do it for charity - more exercise events to take part in