Four seasons in one day.
The day started good! It was sunny and I felt physically and mentally good. So much so, I thought I may pee a few people off being so happy!!
This was to be the last day at Furzton Lake, and it was to be an eventful one!!
We had two people running in fancy dress. No I don't mean Armani suits, more Big Red Fire Extinguisher and a Bright White Lighthouse! Cue the jokes.
I was fortunate enough to start the race and enjoy a few of the early laps with Paul Mason. Paul is running the Brathays 10 in 10 this May and was coming back from injury. My plan was the same as the day before, run a lap, walk a lap. We set off as per plan.
After lap two, Paul stopped to get his gloves as I started to run. Here's where it might have gone wrong?! I ran to what I thought was comfortable, but it was also at speed. Back at that 9.30min/mile pace. It felt easy so I didn't stress about. At the end of the lap, my stomach felt a bit uncomfortable, but it was walk time.
During this walking point I realised I had pushed to hard. Having to divert to the toilet to make a long distance conference call. Whoops. Back out of the toilet and pub, I opted to walk the next lap.
Fortunately I was with Xan. After spending most of the day before with his partner Cat, it was nice to spend time together as well. Plus Cat was running like it was day one!
From this point in, Xan and myself ran walked the course. The wind was picking up, the clouds were building, our feet were hurting.
One of the good things about Furzton and it's short laps is the opportunity to see all the runners. As you lose count how many times Steve zooms past, you see Karen and Foxy, plus the food and drink table more often, Teresa (the important part of Team Edwards) is always there to hand you a drink and some encouragement.
Not only did we have the fancy dress, David Barr was running his 100th marathon. This is becoming a common occurrence and is a real sign that I've got in with a bad crowd! Endorphin Pushers!!
We also had Annas birthday to celebrate, and the cake was teasing me every lap, so every time I saw Anna, I asked when could we have cake?!
The Silson Joggers were back to run their second days. Running together, they were easy to spot. I think one of them is colour blind, kept mixing his compression calf guards up. Pink and green together?! Or maybe one signifies left foot the other right? ;)
They did very well, sticking together with a great pace over the two days. Although their complaints of it hurting on day two, fell on deaf ears. Sorry guys.
With a few laps to go, we were treated to a military helicopter landing on the course, well to the side of it. I was half expecting men dressed head to toe in black to jump out, swipe away a runner and fly off. All on the basis that the runner was some dodgy criminal underworld boss. Not that I think any of them are actually like this? But I have seen a few making calls while running and are pretty quick to! Not mentioning any names Rik and Paul.
Xan and I did get to enjoy a rainbow, and after Xan finished his last lap, I got to enjoy another one, unfortunately, I had to have the 10 minutes of peeing down rain first!
Tired legs and body lead to a 6.17 marathon.
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