Salisbury (virtual) 10, 2020

I'd largely given up on the idea of virtual racing this year, after tiring of sloitary flagellation around local roads in the early days of lockdown when meeting up to run with others was a non-starter.

But the virtual Salisbury 10, originally scheduled for April this year, caught my eye because we were invited to run it on the actual race route. I got in touch with Alex Prinsep, with whom I'd had a fierce battle in 2019, and we fixed a date. And then Liz and Keith joined in too, and it became a properly anticipated event.

Sunday 20 December dawned bright, still and cold. We met up at Salisbury leisure centre and stripped down to shiver in our singlets before trying to warm up.

Standing to attention with Keith, Alex and Liz

Alex and I started a few minutes after the others. I fluffed the start by running a 10-mile watch programme which told me I'd finished after 10 metres... what an eejit. Second time lucky, and the two of us set off through Salisbury, each of us nervous about getting the pacing right.

It was a fabulously bright morning, and the Avon valley was looking at its wintry best. We passed Keith and Liz, and a little later Abi and the lovely Mrs S, who were doing a social run. At about 4k Alex started to drop back, and I was rather unexpectedly on my own.

The remaining 12k went by without incident. I was pleased to maintain a reasonable pace on my own, and it was all fairly straightforward except for some chicanery around cars and other runners through the narrow lanes of Durnford on the homeward stretch. Abi and Mrs S were there to wave me on to the race track at the end, and I ran a bit extra because having bungled my 10-mile watch programme, I wasn't sure precisely how far to go in km and I didn't want to be just under.

So in the end I managed 1:01:48, about 90 seconds down on last year, but I was delighted with that on a semi-virtual event with minimal race condition. With a few days remaining, I'm in 6th pace in the virtual league. A tremendously invigorating and energising outing all round.

At the finish line

All 6 of us back safe - and congratulations Keith on his 10-mile PB

Endurancelife Dorset half marathon 2020

Three days after emerging from lockdown, it was wonderful news that this race was going ahead, albeit in altered form; the series of races was now to split over two days, and with HQ being at Kimmeridge Bay rather than Lulworth. So we ended up running on Sunday, which was really a godsend as Saturday was miserable, cold and squally downpours.

We left home at around 6:30 in frosty darkness, and on arrival were greeted by a bitter north wind. Dressed in gloves, hat and a windprood jacket, we headed down to HQ, where they were running a 30-second stagger system. They weren't fussed about my appointed start time of 08:21, and I was sent off at 08:12.

Chilly start

Very quickly, the consequences of the ultra and marathon races on Saturday became apparent... the coastal trail was poached into a slippery morass. It wasn't deep sucky mud, but a veneer of watery goo over thin grass that made the route diabolically slippery. The downhill stretches were utterly perilous. I had innumerable near-misses but only went over once - a glide down my left side on an oily patch, thankfully missing the brambles, barbed wire, jagged rocks and precipitous cliffs that characterised this initial stretch.

There seemed to be no real logic to the start system, as I periodially caught up with runners who were going at a very steady pace. I started catching a grey-haired guy in a bandana on the long long climb up to Houns Tout, and then caught him on the drag up towards St Aldhem's Head. 

The Purbecks were looking stunning today

Past the lookout station, and I abruptly turned way from the sea and headed north, pushing against the insistent wind. Back down into the valley and Bandana Man caught me, but I stayed ahead as we pushed back up hill to Kingston. We collected one other runner here and the three of us pushed up past stunning views to Swyre Head, the topographic climax of the race, where my two rivals nipped ahead.

Wow. This was the first proper competitive running I'd done since early March. It was thrilling. I pushed hard hard and managed to catch both of them on the downward track. Kimmeridge Bay was now in distant view, and it was a question of holding the pressure and keeping ahead as we piled downhill.

Looking down to Kimmeridge Bay

There was a long succession of fields to work through, and then quite suddenly a left turn and over the finish line. 1:54:17 - this means nothing without context, and I've no idea how I fared - results due soon, but I was very pleased to have seen off my two rivals.

I'd been terribly worried about the lovely Mrs S, for whom slippery trails have been genuflectory disaster zones in the past, but she arrived back in 2:46 grinning all over. It had been a full-on, magical morning.

Did Mrs S get badly lost?

No... she's back safe