17th February Gatecrashing Carsington (R4)

Today I managed to organise myself so that I found myself caught up in an organised run without actually being part of that run. Confused, don't worry you soon will be.

Every couple of month it appears that there is the opportunity to pay either £26 or £30 to run 10km or a half marathon around the undulating trails surrounding Carsington Water as part of an organised event. Or, as I have done half a dozen or so times, you can simply run the same distances free of charge on your own.

So why not combine the two and run 7.2miles which is a complete lap of the reservoir on your own but at the same time at the same time as the organised race, therefore saving yourself a small fortune whilst having the company of other runners.

Not starting off from the same point as either race, but timing my pace (LOL) so that I would run in the opposite direction to those starting the half marathon, before they doubled back and chased me down towards the start of the 10km run, meant I had company for 3/4 of what was a very misty route.

In fact I managed to arrive at the start of the 10km run just as it was starting, which was great even if some of the runners didn't appear to be able to run through any puddles or muddy areas but instead ground to a sudden walking pace to tip top round in an attempt to keep their pristine lycra leggings well pristine. I prefered the 'splash' approach as my non lycra clad legs showed at the end of the race.

Managing to keep in the middle of the 10km group, I was eventually passed by half a dozen runner who were runing the half marathon distance, bounded along like gazelles, as opposed to my impression of a wounded buffalo in its final death throes.

But I was pleased to complete the entire 7.55 miles in an hour and 19 mins. Not my fastest attempt whch strangely was during a night time festive headtorch run back in Dec 2016, but at only 5 mins slower despite being 8 years older I'll take that as a win.