Sunday July 10th and it's off to Denbies Wine Estate near Dorking for the Surrey Badger Half Marathon. Dave and I entered this on impulse a couple of weeks ago as it sounded attractive. Dave forgot for the moment he hadn't run more than 10k for some time. Still, he's young, he'll get round!
From the moment they played 'Thunderbirds are Go' to start the race, I knew I was going to enjoy this one. And I did. One of the best. It was a great mixture of road and off-road, but nothing too technical, with a hill or two as well. The marshals were great and the course was scenic and interesting.
At the finish, a bottle of local beer and a tee shirt (my only complaint - they couldn't find the extra smalls). The venue is lovely with a great cafe and nice, clean toilets. A must for next year. My time was 2 hours and 7 minutes.
Later David found an extra tee shirt in his bag (must have happened in the 'bag storage' room) which is a rather nice turquoise and it fits. Bonus! My bonus: Murray won Wimbledon that afternoon. Hurrah!
From the moment they played 'Thunderbirds are Go' to start the race, I knew I was going to enjoy this one. And I did. One of the best. It was a great mixture of road and off-road, but nothing too technical, with a hill or two as well. The marshals were great and the course was scenic and interesting.
At the finish, a bottle of local beer and a tee shirt (my only complaint - they couldn't find the extra smalls). The venue is lovely with a great cafe and nice, clean toilets. A must for next year. My time was 2 hours and 7 minutes.
Later David found an extra tee shirt in his bag (must have happened in the 'bag storage' room) which is a rather nice turquoise and it fits. Bonus! My bonus: Murray won Wimbledon that afternoon. Hurrah!
Wednesday 13th July and event 59, the Phoenix Brighton 10k. This is an event in the Sussex Grand Prix calendar and also the County 10k championships. The course is along the seafront from Hove towards Shoreham and then turn round and run back! Not a very imaginative route, hardly took much planning, but had lots of potential for PBing. As it turned out, the conditions that evening were perfect with a gentle breeze, cloudy skies but no rain.
Running along for the first mile, I longed for change - a hill up or down, a bit of grass, a corner maybe, but to no avail. There were slight variations and one very smelly section (?) but on the whole, the course was out and back on tarmac as fast as you can.
Well my 'fast' took me 51 mins 21 which was OK by me. There were thirty harriers running and thirteen went under 40 minutes. Lots of PBs, including one for Ian D. Pretty impressive.
Surprise, surprise, Simon came to meet me at the end of the run as his new flat is very close to the finish on Hove Lawns. We went for a drink before I caught the train home. A pleasant end to the evening.
Next day I received an email to say I had won the VW65 category and would receive a small cash prize. That's nice. Glad I beat the other two!