The weather today was fine and clear, and hot, and it was fairly dry underfoot with a lot of road stuff so trail shoes would have been a nightmare. The route itself is superb, taking in 5 rivers, 4 hills, 3 estates, 2 castles and 1 cathedral. The countryside ain't too bad either, with a particularly blissful descent at around the 6 mile mark through an avenue of beech trees. If I could run that kilometre 42 times in a row and call it a marathon, I would, it was idyllic. A bit later on is the stunning Longford Castle, right by the River Avon. It was like running through a Jane Austen film set. And at 15 miles is the Narnia set, a grove of ancient yew trees that date back to 11th century, apparently planted by the Normans for wood for their longbows. The route was laid out with string, adding a Theseus and the Minotaur element to it too. I wish I'd had a tour guide!
Before we started today, I knew I wanted to run my own race, taking it easy when I wanted to, pushing on when I felt good. I find running with one other person quite draining, you're thinking about them and their pace constantly and, while it's great to run alongside someone for 5 or 10 minutes having a chat, today I needed to run how I felt. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to express this very well to Dave who got very upset with me and shot off into the distance when I tried to say, sure, let's run together for a bit, but if you want to go on, feel free. I felt very bad about it, but it seemed to do some good, because he ended up with an off road PB. And he's still talking to me. I think.. It was great to bump into loads of familiar faces today, people from the Picnic, from Tanners, the District Double, those you see at every LDWA event, and several Fetchies.
Coming back to running how I felt, it worked perfectly today. The first 10 or so miles were largely on gentle inclines and easy footing, so it was easy to coast through these, conserving your energy for later on. From about 13 miles, the terrain got a bit more tricky, with a really unpleasant rutted grass track. I found that couple of miles quite tough, I felt full of energy but just couldn't make much progress. Quite a few people passed me between 13 and 18, but I wasn't too fussed, this wasn't about times or anything, it was a race to get back in the saddle, to make sure I enjoyed it and finished in good shape. By 19 miles, I was feeling great and when we hit tarmac, the legs suddenly woke up and asked why they weren't being used. Ok then, there's 8 miles to go (assuming a long course), it's not so risky stretching out at this stage, so it seemed like a nice idea to turn it into a progression run and see what they could handle. It was just a wonderful few miles, perfect, a gorgeous day in beautiful countryside, feeling great (feet are pretty bruised but that's no big deal) and picking off runners one at a time. I'm not sure of the splits but they were quick, about 8'30 - 9'00 per mile with a few seconds lost at the drinks stations and the few tricky bits of navigation in the final mile or two. The final time of 4 hours 41 minutes for 27 miles dead isn't so great, but I'm really happy with an extremely strong finish, and to have absolutely loved today.
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