Simon, wining (MV40 section) in a 5 mile cross country race
Ken, ill missus
Dave, self inflicted drinking in London
So just Paul and Niall headed out after a 4 min wait to fly past Ken's to see if he had slept in or if 1,000 had suddenly seemed to much after only around 40. No sign of life at Murry towers.
We went out on the main road (compared to the trails we are normally on) and a guy on a bike warned us of floods up ahead - "Hope you two have your wellies with you". But before the road flooded we had enough light to brave first footpath of the day and were back in the groove as while wet the trails were runnable. We latched onto the Hertfordshire way and made the mission to get to Brocket Hall.
Mile six just before Cromer Hyde we caught our first magnificent view of Brocket Hall and the ride up to the house itself. Spurred on by the view and the clear weather the sun was now above the horizon that became today's picture.
No Brocket Hall run is complete with out going over the Palladian bridge. Normally, I'd hug the trees behind the house to get back to the Lea - but today I had new footpaths in mind. From the map I was sure we could get to the bottom corner of the course near Lemsford then climb up the side of the course to meet the start of the Ayot Greenway at Ayot Green. Check out the hill profile below.
Sure enough we found our way across the course, which looked in fantastic condition. Hardly any golfers and a few green keepers with everyone very friendly. We even bumped into a couple of guys coming down as we ran up. It was a tough climb up, very steep in places, so much so at one point I could put my hand out in front of me and touch the ground in front. Escape from the Palmerston golf course was at the 4th tee.
Click here for a map of the courses.
Now it was a simple matter to go past the Waggoners restaurant and find the Ayot Greenway - another flood avoided by doubling back and joining the Greenway at the very start.
The yellow tops were everywhere and every one was Ken for at least few seconds, but none really. We discussed the possible sponsorship we could inflict on him. I like Paul's idea of a bonus for going past the first 10km in MORE than a certain time. Mine will be revealed shortly.
Went over on a stone on the Greenway. Nasty moment as my foot landed mid sole I struck a fist sized stone. I relaxed my foot and tried to take the roll, but the stone popped right out of the ground and my left foot hit the ground at 90 degrees. I heard Paul shout something but by now it was slow motion as the right foot came down and I shut my eyes and thought about how much the next left foot fall was going to hurt. I relaxed as much as I could and readied myself for a fall, but I was just ok. I hurt, but not enough to stop me. That was very close and a timely reminder to all out in the wet and slippy conditions to be very careful.
No risk of a sprint finish today as we negotiated the final leg of the route to stay off the road a little longer.
By the last mile it was to hot for the red jacket of marathon rejection so off it came and by the finish we'd cleared 13 and 3/4 miles only straying into zone four on the big hill. I felt fresh as daisy, ankle slightly sore from the stone, but very happy to have shifted the cold that wrecked my half marathon last weekend so quickly. If only I'd felt like today last week. Ho hum, that's running for you! Still a new dawn and new day. Great run to get me in the mood for the cross country race on Wednesday.
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