Oh dear!

Well, its been a while since I updated this, isn't it?

The Grunty Fen race went well. I really was very nervous; but when we got to the venue there were plenty of 'normal' looking people, as well as the 'hardcore' looking runners. We started at the '2 hour' finishing time start, but I guess a lot of people were too hopeful, as we overtook a lot of people in the first few miles, and didn't get overtaken by them again.

It was a really hot day - around 25 degrees, apparently - and I was thankful of the water stations and sponges. I finished in 1hr 56 minutes, which was slower than what I was hoping to get, but at least I finished and my time put me as finishing in the fastest 2/3rd of people, so at least my fears of coming last were for nothing.

The race has been the reason for the lack of updates though. I've actually felt quite glum. A mixture of a feeling of anti-climax after the race, and grumpiness at the fact that there isn't another one to do until October (and we've not even registered for that yet). Even though I know I'm being unfair on myself, I'm also annoyed that my time wasn't faster, and thats made me grumpy too.

Still, I've started to feel a bit better. It was a valuable learning experience. I know now that while running without a watch in training is fine, having one in a race is a very good idea and I think I'll have to rectify that come the next race. Likewise, you need a bigger bag to put stuff in, and a plastic bag to stuff your outdoors shoes in, because otherwise they have to go in with your after-race clothes, which isn't nice. Ha, shame next month's finances look a little shaky!

We ran on Monday (only 4.6 miles but the time was okay), and yesterday (the 6.6 mile route in a slightly faster pace than Grunty Fen). Tonight is a five mile run with some 'fartlek-ing' built in - well, thats the idea anyway, we'll see how it goes.