6th February The one that was a mile too far

Let's be honest 13.1 miles is quite long enough for a run isn't it. Well it is for a pedestrian plodder one year out from celebrating the big 60 and who struggled to complete a 4 mile jog earlier in the week. 

So imagine the mental and physical trauma, having entered what I thought was the final quarter of a mile of my latst folly to discover that it was actually the final one and a quarter miles. If I'd been running with a pram full of toys I would have throwne them all out there and then. Even worse was the fact it turned out to be my mistake for not having read the race instructions properly beforehandI

It was also a race that had a cut off point with runners expected to reach the approximate 1/2 point on the course in 1hr and 20 mins. A notice in the clubhouse stated quite clearly  'This isn't a charity run and a fun run. It's a serious run.If you can't make this cut off point, you shouldn't be here!' Which made me feel even more out of my depth that I normally do even before the B of the bang. 

Actually out on the course with time ebbing away and still no idea where this actual cut off mark was, I wouldn't have minded not actually making it. I could simply have turned round and retraced my route having already run over 6 miles. Unfortunatltely as misfortune would have it, I managed to just sneak inside the cut off time and so had to run the whole thing.

So this was my first (and possibly last) little jolly to run the
Charnwood Hill race on what turned out to be a stunning winters day with a temperature of 7 degrees and clear blue skies. It was to quote an often misused word 'undulating', very undulating and I know people will say what goes up must come down, the trouble was I was so cream crackered doing the up bits, it was all I could do to stay upright on the down bits.

There were the usual club runners sporting singlet vets and high cut shorts and then there was me looking as if i were about to set out on a 48 hr overnight expedition. Which is almost as long as it took me to complete the course, including that extra last mile that seem to go on for ever. And this morning after a poor nights sleep, well I am not sure there isn't a part of me which does not ache.

Comments

  1. MatthewFebruary 7, 2023 at 8:47 AM

    Kudos. I haven't done that distance for a few years now.

    ReplyDelete

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