Better late than never

Sorry for the delay in this week's round up, it's been a busy old week but better late than never.
The 4 mile and 7 mile runs last week were both a lot harder than I would have liked but with no real reason. The weather was really horrible on Thursday, very cold and very wet so that didn't help but still doesn't really explain why I found it such hard going. My hands were a bit painful and so were my feet so I was worried that I was about to have another flare up of whatever this weird illness/non-illness thing is but it didn't really come to anything.
The main event of the week was the Grindleford Gallop, a 21 mile offroad/fell race in the lovely Derbyshire Peak District. I had been viewing this as simply a pleasant long run with a bit of mud, it's main purpose was time on feet so useful training. With just over 24 hours to go the weather forecast was for blizzard conditions so the race organisers sensibly decided to insist on full FRA kit. Fine, except I didn't actually own many of the required items and actually that made the whole race a lot more scary. Friday was spent frantically borrowing and buying various items of equipment, I was very proud of myself for managing to get the whole lot to fit in a 2L bumbag- no rucksack for me. Saturday morning was drizzly and cold, perfect running conditions. Four of us had decided to run as a group, sticking together with the aim of enjoying the run rather than breaking any speed records. The run itself was beautiful, there were hills, mud, snow, laughs, cake, scenery, views, rain and more mud. We covered the 21 miles in an official time of 5.13, running time around 4.30. I was surprised how good I felt at the end, I still hadn't reached the point where I wasn't enjoying it. Looks like the training is really having an effect. That is now my longest run to date. I love this sort of run more than any other.

The week ahead holds a 2 mile (so actually 3.5 mile) run on Wednesday and an 8 mile run on Thursday, not sure how I'm going to do that one but it will get done. Sunday's long run will be as far removed from last weekend as you can get, it's the Ashby 20. The Ashby 20 is a 20 mile road race, on the plus side you get a hoody and a cheese cob when you finish it. You can fill in the minuses for yourself, the clue is in the title "20 mile road race".

Laters taters.