Lesley Pymm reports on the second race in the series of mid-week races organised by Halesowen Athletic and Cycling Club.
I left home in torrential rain on Wednesday evening and as we got closer to Redditch, the clouds cleared and sun came out. It started to get really warm and things were looking promising weatherwise. Picked up the SiS goodies and stowed them away and then had a bit of an explore around the Countryside Park. About 15 minutes before we were due to start it started to rain, slowly at first and then it chucked it down and it got pretty cold as well.
Rather than warming up, there were groups of highly tuned athletes sheltering under trees or bushes and muttering about maybe giving it a miss. Soon the time came to start, and as the guy at the beginning said, ‘you can’t possibly get any wetter’. This was true, but we could (and did) get considerably muddier. It was a great course which turned out to be closer to 12k than the advertised 10k, but who’s counting??? Two laps which took us through some lovely woodland, although with the rain and cloud, it was a bit dark in the woods. There was a wonderful smell of wild garlic and some really good bits to run on.
The second lap was very much more muddy than the first, especially for those of us at the back – but it was great. I thought I was going to go into the river at one point near the end, but managed to stay on the path! I had no problems with the route, although I understand that some of the others may have gone a bit wrong. There were a few people who dropped out, either near the beginning or at half-way as they were not in the best shoes for the conditions.
I had a great time and am really pleased that I did this event. I have not seen the results yet so don’t have my official time. Two more to do in this series – the next one is road, which I am not looking forward to at all!
Lesley Pymm