Forest tracks 1, Flat tarmac 0

Wednesday was a two-race special.  I had a day's leave to represent Ordnance Survey at the Civil Service 10k championships in Battersea Park in London, and in the evening I ran the 8th RR10 of the season at Janesmoor Pond.  Guess which I preferred?

It was hot and humid in London - around 26 degrees - and the course is 4 dead-flat circuits.  Two others - Paul and James - were planning to pace it for a 37:40 time, which sounded perfect.  The gun went off, but within seconds it was clear that I wasn't going to keep up with them.  I heaved around, and with one lap down was in quiet despair at having to do the same three more times.

But then anatomy reared its ugly head.  I started wishing I'd visited the lav beforehand.  It got worse.  I thought about taking a detour to the bogs in the changing area, but that would add minutes to my time.  I considered which bushes I could dive into, and then thought about the implications of dire consequences in a heavily used family park.  With a lot of focus I kept going... but it wasn't fun.

I finished in 38:50, a pretty ropey time.  I wasn't feeling well.  Others in the group were also suffering in the heat, although 2 of us managed PBs - amazing.  Paul L threw up and Alex E had heart palpitations... not very clever.

My friend Matt drove me back from London.  We stopped home for a cup of tea and then went on to Janesmoor Pond.  There we met Mick and Mark A, both of whom who had also run in London.   'What are we doing here?' we all wondered.

We set off and it was a big relief.  Forest paths with mud, roots, overhanging branches and plenty of hills are so much more fun than the hot hamster wheel of the afternoon.  I became very weary in the second half but it was infinitely more enjoyable.  Janesmoor Pond has a fun little sting in the tail - a tough hill to the finish - and I finished a bit of a wreck in 37th place.  No cigar, but I was quite pleased on the whole.

Next RR10 stop is Itchen Park on 7 August... I need to beat my worst scoring position of 27th... and I'll be a lot better primed than I was today.

RR10: Marwell

A warm and sunny evening the middle of a July heatwave, and the seventh in the terrific RR10 series took place at Marwell.  Parking was in the zoo carpark and the race was in the fields and woods behind.

400m into the race and we headed down a hill with tree roots everywhere.  It was quite precarious with the field still very dense.  The around a beautiful meadow of long grass with a singe-file trail in it.  This posed a dilemma - ease up and go steady in my place or go off piste through long straggly grass?  I did a mixture of both, and managed (just) not to trip up in tangles.  Then two laps of an interesting circuit - a long drag up through a sunny path and thena terrific hurtle down through a shady green lane lane.

I was gradually overtaking people and felt OK... but near the end I was suddenly overtaken by a lady and jolted into response.  I overtook up the final hill and gasped my way to the finish line.  A big effort always requires a lie-down afterwards and this was one of those.

The result - 27th place which is my worst this season but keeps my grouping fairly tight. 

Here is my standing in the men's league so far:

...and here are the graded scores (numbers representing % of men I've beaten):

Three more races to go... and I improve on these scores?