3rd March 2024
I hung my head in shame when I realised how slowly I had finished this half marathon. My slowest ever by a long chalk. It didn’t feel particularly slow, although I was pretty whacked out by the end. I had no injuries, I had a good nights sleep in the van, I drank my beetroot juice before the race and gobbled a few jelly babies during the race. I can only say that I wasn’t trying hard enough!
Times aside, it was a delightful run in the hills. The mud had returned (I rather missed it the last few very dry years). There was a light frost which gradually vanished in the warm sunshine.
I managed to trip up just over the start line and cover myself in glorious mud.
Alex and Anthony joined us for the race, but soon disappeared into the distance. Alex was cheating as he was wearing a revolutionary pair of Nike Hover Shoes so he floated above all the mud.
6″ off the ground.
The fact that he competed the race in a smidgen over two hours and finished in 24th place must have been entirely due to this new technology and definitely nothing to do with the fact that he was running twice as fast as I was.
We have just eaten our cooked breakfasts
The front runners were kind enough to wait for me to stagger over the finish line so we could all have breakfast together. It is a unique and rather wonderful feature of this race that a full cooked English breakfast is included in the entrance fee.
My Salomon Speedcross Shoes did the trick but next year I shall be wearing hover shoes like Alex did
..and there will be a next year, as this is my favourite race. Thanks to all the marshals and organisers for doing such a great job.
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