15 miles

[Charliecat5]

They made me do it.  The bastards.

The Goat and the River Man dragged me to the Bevendean Dowb Parkrun this morning… I swore after the last Parkrun (and first) that I wasn’t a Parkrun kind of guy.  But the aforementioned chaps had been telling me for some time that Bevendean is different as it involves a big fat hill and is all off-road - my kind of running apparently.

Having run out of excuses (or not having my excuses accepted anymore) I found myself climbing into the Rookmobile at 8:30 this morning.   I explained bitterly that I still had the lurgie, that I was full of last night’s early Christmas dinner and I had the dregs of a hangover pounding in the back of my head.  But they ignored me and chatted about football.

As we arrived the sun was just making an appearance, so after the habitual selfie, we wallowed to the start line ready for the off.   The Bevendean Down Parkrun is quite a small affair – approx. 25 runners today – so at least the start wasn’t congested.  My game plan was to follow the River Man… which led to the first surprise… that we were pretty close to the front of the pack.   Then we hit the HILL.  This is relentless bastard of a hill which gets progressively steeper.  It climbs for at least two thirds of a mile and we had to go round twice.  

Once over the top we had the fun side of the hill to contend with which provided the legs the opportunity to race… the lungs still screamed though, as they had thought the downhill would provide some respite.   But having been passed by a very fit guy I'd made the decision to dig in and hang onto his coat tails (strange he was wearing a coat with tails to be honest).

We finished the first lap and I didn’t feel that bad – given my lungs were clogged with snot – and off we went again, back up the bastard hill.  It felt tougher this time around – although my stats told me later that I ran up it quicker the second time – and now of course I knew what I was facing.  As I reached the top for the second time, my lungs were threating strike action of a ferocity that would put Southern Rail to shame. 

The downhill was no easier either – the legs starting to do that jelly thing as I was once again overtaken by the fit guy again (I'd overtaken him on the uphill).  I tucked in behind Julie to keep a decent pace going and then as we turned the last corner I managed to put in a spurt (so to speak) to the line, overtaking a couple of runners to finish in 5th place!    

I hate to say it… but I did quite enjoyed it. 

I wonder what time I could do if I was feeling on better form?
 
             

Photo is thanks to Rob 'River Man' Read (The Three Amigos*)

*Fools