RR10, 2015 - Manor Farm

I arrived at the venue almost an hour before the race started, in a complete departure from my normal chaotic scrabble for parking spaces, and did some work in the car.  Is the most organised I've ever been, I wondered?

This is a great course, with lots of highly hazardous roots, stumps and little gates that you don't see until you're on top of them.  I was determined to get my pacing right after running out of legs at the last event I did at Blackfield.  For the first couple of miles there was a lot of single file running which kept me in check, and from then on I felt good as we emerged from the woods and chased around open tracks in glorious sunshine.  I overtook others and felt good.

I was working hard, though.  I found myself behind two guys from Winchester who pulled me along. I knew we would be turning right up a slope from the river bank... but we kept going on that bank for longer than I expected.  And then eventually up the hill, and I thought I was going to catch them, but it didn't quite happen.  The finish line was still out of sight as we emerged from the trees and I lost heart, thinking we might have another 400m to go.  I was hurting terribly as I staggered over the line, and I lay in a gasping heap on the grass.

I felt that the pacing had all gone rather well, so I was a bit nonplussed to discover that I finished with number 35... 10 down on general form.  A strong field today, or was I still a bit flaked after a hard handicap race at work yesterday?

Chocs away

On Sunday I found myself getting up at ridiculously early hour to run around Southampton Airport in fancy dress.

It was the Summer Solstice Fun Run - a 5k event on hehalf of Sophie's Appeal.  I was part of an 8-strong OS Runners team.  Here we are, all in our Red Arrows fancy dress, having run up and down the runway in tight formation.  Utterly bonkers but lots of fun.

RR10, 2015 - Blackfield

A glorious sunny summer evening, and off to Blackfield, an unusual setting, wedged between the New Forest and Southampton Water.  I had marshalled here 2 years ago when I was a Hardley Runner and was curious to run it for the first time.

Driving down, I noticed how flat the landscape is here.  Properly flat, the whole area around Fawley Refinery.  We set off into blinding low sun, with the path quickly narrowing, which led to a lot of risky overtaking and leaping over tree roots.  There were a couple of narrow valleys - gullies, really - in the first 2 miles or so, and I gradually worked up the field.

The second half was an awful lot tougher than the first.  The steep gullies kept on coming, and I found myself right on the edge of my breathing limit.  Hanging grimly on, I was desperate for the end... and it never seemed to arrive.  A desperate need for the loo didn't help much either.

The result - 28th place, which was sort-of respectable, but I'd underestimated the course.  Still, I've just realised that I'm currently 4th place in the M40 league... let's see if I can break top 3 by the end of the season.