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?