Lesley Pymm reports: A rare road race for me. To be honest, when I entered I had assumed it was trail, so it was a bit of a shock when I realised that I had to find my road shoes. I couldn’t remember when I last used them. I got to the start area pretty early which was just as well as there had been a problem with my on-line entry and there was no number for me. We got that sorted out and I had a warm up and dumped my jacket in the baggage area. It felt very cold with the wind coming off the water at Draycot Water.
The field was not very big and I started near a woman who I know from Massey and who runs at about the same pace as me in the XC. She was standing where she was meant to be – there were letters and you started by a certain number depending on the predicted time you had given. Well, that was the theory. When we started, I spent quite a while getting past slower runners who were in front of me.
I was soon running comfortably. Basically the route went around Draycot Water and then back to the start area. We then ran on for over a kilometer and did a U turn before coming back to the finish at the same place as the start.
There were some undulations, but no real hills. It was quite pretty, but not really my sort of run. There are a lot of runs there apparently because ‘it is safe’. The route was traffic free, although there were walkers, cyclists and other runners to beware of.
A reasonable run if you like road races. Cheap and cheerful – but not for entries on the day which were £20 for all. I had paid £12 for the pre-entry.
Well done slumming it with a safe race on the roads Lesley. Get back on those hill pronto please!
Well done Lesley. Not easy running when one is feeling cold.Hope that you have got over the shock! Nothing wrong with a safe route.