Larmer Tree half, 2020

This was a much-anticipated outing for the Hampshire Hares, for many of whom this was their first-ever half marathon.  The lovely Mrs S and I arrived at the venue on a cloudy, breezy but mild day, in time to cheer Ali, who's recovering from a nasty winter virus, to the finish of her 10-mile race. A strip down and quick warm-up later, we were on the start line where I met a couple of familiar faces.

Great to see Ali back to form, with coach Mrs S

Haring to go

After a minute or so there was one other guy in a tutu level with me, but I was ahead of the pack at the first km.  As far as competitive racing went, that was it - I never saw a soul again.  A few times I imagined I could hear foosteps behind me, which was quite a useful spur to egg me on.  My great fear was of getting lost.  Andy Palmer (the inimitable White Star race director) had warned us that sheep might have knocked over some some signs, and I was making a huge effort to clock every possible clue about the route.  But it was beautifully marked, and apart from one brief moment on a track when I ran over a sign that was in the mud adjacent to a junction in the track, navigation was easy.

The course was magnificent. Immense chalk dry valleys and great visibility.  We had three fingers to traverse, and from the top of the first one I started to get a sense of the geography of the course.  As I progressed around, I could see marshals spotting me and scurrying to their stations.  By the time I reached the top of the third finger I could tell I was well ahead and had lost my worries about getting lost.  I was loving the course and feeling strong.

We had two really crunchy hills - as opposed to long drags - to work up and three steep scarp downhills.  There was a tent at the bottom of the final one, which I had passed about 3km from the start.  There were no direction arrows but I was assuming it would be a right turn. 'Which way?' I called out, getting the answer 'left'. 'Is that your left and my right?'  'Oh, sorry, yes'.

Back up the final track to the Larmer Estate, and into the final field and a sign saying 400m. Encouraged, I pushed on, half-remembering a long, drawn-out run to the finish.  I tried to show good form and keep the pressure up as I eventually crossed the line.  Here are the results and my stats.

There was some doubt about the accuracy of this sign

Home and dry

It was a fabulous run around the Dorset hills.  I would have loved to have had a bit more competition, but nevertheless it was great fun.  And it was very special cheering the Hares home, some of them o their half marathon debuts.  A big shame that Mrs S, recovering from injury, was not running, but she was thrilled by how well all the Hares fared. A big thank-you, my love, for the training plans and encouragement that have led to such an exhiliarating start to the year.

With David and Rollo

Neil is self-expressing

Jules, Sarah, Susie and Jo

And here's Rob