John Austin half marathon 2013

This morning I ran the John Austin half marathon - a super race in the New Forest which begins and ends in Brockenhurst and is entirely off-road.  It's led by a horse and rider - how cool is that?

It was a cold day - 3 degrees, and a bitter east wind.  It was quite a trudge from the race HQ to the start, with the family all bravely in tow.

It's race of three parts... here's the route:

The first five miles is all through forest plantations, which were reasonably sheltered.  Then bam! and you're onto the WWII Beaulieu airfield which is flat but hugely exposed to the wind on certain legs.  It was a relief to come off this.  Just like last year, it was at the end of the airfield stretch that I felt myself gaining on the runners ahead and started picking them off as we went into the final phase; narrow tracks with much more undulation and plenty of thick mud in parts.

With about 2 miles to go I was gaining ground on a runner who was clearly >40 (no offence mate, but I've got more hair than you) and I was determined to beat him.  It was a question of reeling him in very slowly, and when I made my move to past him he said something that I couldn't hear but indicated that the fight had left him.  There was no one else in sight ahead and I just tried to keep the pressure on.

Quite suddenly you seem to emerge from the woods and get diverted through a posh manorial estate, downhill through a very ornate gatehouse, over a quite technical pedestrian railway bridge and you're into Brockenhurst College grounds for the finish.  Hooray!

Feeling good as I enter Brockenhurst College

Or not.  I'd forgotten about the final lap of honour around the playing fields.  This was really hard work and I felt myself stumbling around a bit, terrified that my bald chaser was gaining on me.  He didn't, and I arrived in 1:25:24 - here are the results.  This was nearly a minute and a half up on last year which was through dreadful rainstorms but probably similar wind conditions, so pretty satisfactory, I reckon.  At the finish I was in bits; my face had lost all movement and I  could only mumble.  I tried to have a little lie-down on the grass when I was yelled at and realised I was on the course.

Feeling done-for as I finish, after an unwelcome tour of the playing fields

I was 10th overall and 2nd M40, a bit down from last year, but it was undoubtedly a stronger field this year.

Here's the GPS output.

Much kudos to the organisers and the marshals, who brave very cold conditions to make this possible.