Today I returned to Horton, a
village at the southern end of the Cotswolds, to run across some more mud. Paul
had a yen to run down on Exmoor so Vanessa and I were the only Bristol &
West representatives in this one.
I'm sure that somewhere there is someone who enjoys being last but I've not met them yet. I really don't like it, trying my hardest with the tail runner breathing down my neck, knowing that I'm keeping all the marshalls and the people at the finish waiting.
I know someone has to be last, but I'd rather it wasn't me. Sometimes, there are positives, such as the time I was last in a parkrun whilst finishing in my highest ever position in any parkrun. Anywhere. Ever! But today I had to find other compensations.
Well, for one thing, it was a beautiful sunny morning, and the Cotswolds, of course, are a lovely place to be. I took my time to enjoy the views in the first few miles, when we were up on top of the world, or so it seemed.
I remembered how fortunate I am to be able to run. Several friends are injured right now and I thought of them as I made my way around the course. I also remembered my friends running elsewhere, in particular at York, Abingdon and Exmoor, and hoped they were enjoying their races too.
I realised as we started that I couldn't remember how far we were racing this morning! That's never happened to me before. I thought it was probably about 6 miles, and hoped it wasn't much further. In the end it turned out to be 5.73 miles (approximately). I think I may have run further than most, as at about the 2 mile point I came to a junction with no idea which way to turn. There were 3 alternatives that I could see, so I took the first option and turned left. After a couple of hundred yards I looked around and saw I'd gone the wrong way, as everyone else had gone straight on. I never did like multiple choice! It was whilst I was deviating that I was overtaken by the tail runner. He apologised for the lack of a marshal at the junction but there was no need. I couldn't say so as I was breathless but as far as I was concerned, I shouldn't have been so far behind the runner in front!
.JPG)
Eventually I finished, in 73rd out of 73 (although apparently 74 had started) in just under 71 minutes. I was only 4 minutes behind the runner in front so I hope the race officials didn't mind waiting too much. It was lovely of Vanessa to run down the hill from the finish to run back up it with me - thank you Ness, and well done, you ran well today.
It's the Nightingale Nightmare next week, and I almost dread to think what that will bring. The week after that there's more mud, around Bradford on Avon, and then the Sodbury Slog. Blimey, that's come round quickly! Which of course, is more than I'll be doing! Hopefully all these challenges are helping build up my strength and stamina, and when I get back to the roads I know I can run better, like I was able to last week. So it's worth it. I won't always be last. And I'm almost 6 miles closer to Copenhagen now
I'm sure that somewhere there is someone who enjoys being last but I've not met them yet. I really don't like it, trying my hardest with the tail runner breathing down my neck, knowing that I'm keeping all the marshalls and the people at the finish waiting.
I know someone has to be last, but I'd rather it wasn't me. Sometimes, there are positives, such as the time I was last in a parkrun whilst finishing in my highest ever position in any parkrun. Anywhere. Ever! But today I had to find other compensations.
Well, for one thing, it was a beautiful sunny morning, and the Cotswolds, of course, are a lovely place to be. I took my time to enjoy the views in the first few miles, when we were up on top of the world, or so it seemed.
I remembered how fortunate I am to be able to run. Several friends are injured right now and I thought of them as I made my way around the course. I also remembered my friends running elsewhere, in particular at York, Abingdon and Exmoor, and hoped they were enjoying their races too.
I realised as we started that I couldn't remember how far we were racing this morning! That's never happened to me before. I thought it was probably about 6 miles, and hoped it wasn't much further. In the end it turned out to be 5.73 miles (approximately). I think I may have run further than most, as at about the 2 mile point I came to a junction with no idea which way to turn. There were 3 alternatives that I could see, so I took the first option and turned left. After a couple of hundred yards I looked around and saw I'd gone the wrong way, as everyone else had gone straight on. I never did like multiple choice! It was whilst I was deviating that I was overtaken by the tail runner. He apologised for the lack of a marshal at the junction but there was no need. I couldn't say so as I was breathless but as far as I was concerned, I shouldn't have been so far behind the runner in front!
.JPG)
Eventually I finished, in 73rd out of 73 (although apparently 74 had started) in just under 71 minutes. I was only 4 minutes behind the runner in front so I hope the race officials didn't mind waiting too much. It was lovely of Vanessa to run down the hill from the finish to run back up it with me - thank you Ness, and well done, you ran well today.
It's the Nightingale Nightmare next week, and I almost dread to think what that will bring. The week after that there's more mud, around Bradford on Avon, and then the Sodbury Slog. Blimey, that's come round quickly! Which of course, is more than I'll be doing! Hopefully all these challenges are helping build up my strength and stamina, and when I get back to the roads I know I can run better, like I was able to last week. So it's worth it. I won't always be last. And I'm almost 6 miles closer to Copenhagen now
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