So I have a sore knee , I hate tarmac, hate flat and I’m trying to travel less so how did I end up entered into a 37 mile Tarmac race in south wales ! Well it was the closest thing I could find that fell on my brothers 50th Birthday that was not too far away from his home and it also had the added factor of quite a few mates running it and I know the RD.
So when my brother pulled out you would think I would ditch this but what the hell, it was a good bit of fun training and we fancied a weekend away with the promise of a bit of a party after.
We met up the night before with a fair group of runners & Matt the RD. One couple, old friends of mine had travelled from NE Scotland for this! Great Pre race get together with far too many beers and a late night. I’ll never learn!
We met up at a country park the following morning and Matt the RD soon had the small field on its way. A group of about six or seven runners stayed together for a fair while and chatted and caught up a bit. I do like races for people you meet and I must mention Stuart, who as we ran along seemed to know everyone (and his dog). It turns out Stuart is one of those slimmer of the year folk. You know the ones you usually see holding an enormous pair of trousers ten times bigger than themselves. All smiles and laughter, what an inspiration and likable fellow he is and a great bloke to have around on a long run but I mention him because while we chatted he mentioned a couple of races he had done recently. A half in 1:31 and a ten miler in 1:06! Fantastic times I can only dream off. I asked what he thought he could have done had he started running in his twenties. Just a whimsical smile was the answer.
The route was a sort of Y shape with the first out and back taking us alongside an estuary and back again. I soon realised my sore knee really wasn’t playing ball and really not risking any further injuries (especially with my first race that mattes only 10 weeks away). I told Anna (who was swanning around on her bike as she is still injured) I would head back on the return leg therefore running only 20 miles instead of the full 37. However as the group laughed and chatted away I missed the turn of back to the start and was soon heading up the next out and back. Oh well
The race was billed as flat but Stuart mentioned there was a slight 5 degree incline as is often the case on old railway lines. He also mentioned it was 9 miles long…. Now my maths isn’t great and it was soon apparent by the view over the bay and the town below we had risen a fair bit. I enjoyed the ‘climb’ as it were but on the turn around my knee really started to hurt and although now going downhill I lost a fair bit of pace. I must mention all the mile markers had little ditties on them to keep us amused. My favourite was mile 29 with just the words ‘Beer’ written above. Great fun.
Anyway back to the estuary and just a few miles and we I was soon at the 37 Mile (and a bit) finish and collecting a cold beer, T shirt , a cake and best of all a hand painted picture from Matt’s daughter Caitlin.
So a race I should have hated but I thoroughly enjoyed. (even with a sore knee) .Thanks so much to Matt Rogerson the Rd and all his family and friends who marshalled and provided the water. Matt put this together solely for the enjoyment of the runners with any extra cash to go to his favourite charity. Superb .