Well I’ve been pretty busy since last week’s weekend debrief, mainly building up my wine cellar… [disclaimer: I do not actually have a wine cellar. Or indeed any cellar.] Last Thursday at my club mile race I won a bottle of wine. On Saturday I paced a friend to a parkrun PB on Saturday then yesterday won the that nice prosecco on the left with a third place at the Harry Hawkes 10 miler. Anyone would think runners are entirely motivated by booze. I mean, how daft, right? Surely everyone knows we are motivated by cake? Still, I suppose you’ve got to wash that cake down with something …
It was a wonderful sunny weekend for running, albeit that 10 miles yesterday did feel a little long in the heat. But what a fantastic race the Harry Hawkes 10 is. I’ve written before of my love of a 10 mile race – the perfect distance for endurance runners, if you ask me – and though they are definitely on the return, there’s still not nearly as many as I’d like. The Harry Hawkes starts and finishes in the picture-postcard-perfect village of Thames Ditton, on the village green. You run through woods, along the river, over Kingston Bridge, and back past Hampton Court. By the end, as you return for the last few hundred metres on the grass, there is a cricket match in whites being played in the middle. There was Union Jack bunting in the village. It’s partly rural idyll, partly disturbingly like being trapped in a Nigel Farage dream. Still, the prosecco was made in Italy …
Big races are brilliant for atmosphere and support, but I think my heart really belongs to races like the HH10. For much of it, I ran with two chaps for company and by the end, just the one. Quiet Sunday morning streets and paths, just the sound of our feet and breathing for company. I didn’t look at my watch once, which is the best way to run – though slightly annoying when I realised afterwards I was only 12 seconds outside my 10 mile PB. Though if I’m honest, that just means my 10 mile PB should be rather a lot faster … But it means you can really lose yourself in the feeling of running, in the sound of breath and the scenery around you. And that’s, surely, the best way to run.
So, over to you. Anyone else pacing or racing (or indeed both) this weekend? As always, come and share your stories below the line.
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