RR10, Janesmoor Pond, 18 July

For various reasons - mostly work and school governor commitments - this was only my second RR10 race this year.  Janesmoor Pond is always soft underfoot, but after all of the rain that we've had over the previous 6 weeks it was a glorious mudfest.

This race was a bit of a wildcard for me because I had run in to work and back that day, a round trip of about 15 miles, and only had about 40 minutes at home before I had to put my wet trail shoes on again.  I wasn't feeling too weary but I had used up a lot of energy as the Test Way was a real swamp and for long stretches of it every step was a contest of leg v mud.

I was a bit late getting to Janesmoor Pond and I had to trot down the hill to the start.  I think I'd become fairly inured to the mud; others were delicately navigating the boggy bits and I got a couple of annoyed noises when I bimbled down, fairly careless of the mud and sending some splashes up.  Get used to it, guys, I thought.

The race was a mixture of gravel track - reasonably firm underfoot - and unmade routes, which were anything but.  I felt OK, although after 15 and then 20 minutes went by I was getting very confused by not recognising familiar ground - RR10 courses are almost always laps.  In fact we did a snaky route which never retraced old steps.  Once I'd figured this out I was mentally more sure, but I tired in the last 5 minutes and 3 runners overtook me on the slope up to the top.  I was done for at the finish and lay gasping on the grass for a while... but I was absolutely chuffed to finish in 15th place, my best RR10 position for a couple of years.

Here are a couple of photos of the race:
Here I am chasing a Lordshill runner (and looking a bit scary)

While this one gives a sense of the mud.

All good clean fun!