The weather was amazing, especially considering that last weekend I ran in snow, but a beautifull hot spring day may be nice to lounge around in but doesn't make for good running, some drizzle would have been nice.
The run started well with a nice flat riverside section, narrow in places which made overtaking difficult but did stop me from shooting off too quickly, then a road crossing forced us to pause whilst drivers drove past oblivious to the fact that a race was taking place. Before long the first hill loomed ahead, where we ran straight through a field of folk with metal detectors. In another field there was a gazebo, more folk searching for treasure and a lot of parked cars, making me wonder if metal detecting is now a sport. Although the hill was steep and fairly long I was determined to run it, I made decent progress and moved up several places. A rocky downhill followed, I let loose and turned an ankle. I ran on, luckily it sorted itself out before I reached the bottom of the slope. By now I'd reached Stoney Middleton, running through backstreets, crossing the main road, up a steep alley then onto grassy fields. One of those fields contained a herd of bullocks, which moved around in a nervous manner and made me wonder about the docility of farm livestock... Out of said field, a short downhill and then, 32 minutes and 1 second after I set out it was all over. Dani came in after with a time of 35.16.
I finished in third place overall (out of 30 finishers), first in my age group. Dani came in 11th and second in her category.
Not a bad result.
Paul.
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