its all over then ...

well studentbeanz and BF have gone, so its back to normal life now - just a bit of turkey to eat tonight and the cake and the mince pies ........

it was our Boxing Day race yesterday - not an official race but lots of local club runners do it - about 200 turned up this year
runningbeanz and I decided to warm up by walking / jogging the 2 miles to the start; mrbeanz drove part of the way and then walked, he still has problems with his achilles so wasn't running but was willing to be bag carrier
met up with lots of clubmates from both clubs and we separated to take our starting positions near the front (RB) at the back (me)
I started off with V69 but he zoomed off too quickly and I knew it was no good me going to fast, I'd just be miserable, so I plodded along, the race starts off flat but soon reaches the bank where RB does his hills training, we were to go diagonally up the bank, and I managed most of the way before needing a short walk, passing various teenagers who were not runners, but had been inveigled into coming, including our minister's son, whose dad was way ahead somewhere

and then it's down into the village
after about a mile I am running with another lady of about my age (or maybe older) who tells me how she has been running for 20+ years but never gets any faster because she always takes the beginnners at her club (but maybe she wouldn't get faster anyway)
we chat and plod together intermittently for the rest of the race - this really helps me get round, with only a few paces of walking when an incline gets the better of me
as we come back into the park mrbeanz and RB are there to cheer me on and again after a final loop to make up to 5k we are nearly there and we decide to plod in together rather than go for the 'sprint' finish - so we are joint 190 with at least 5 behind us (I was last, last year) although my time was slightly slower than last year I enjoyed it more and felt better throughout - I suspect the warm up did help

Oh and teenbeanz is 20th in 19:30 ish, having been paced for part of the run by a quick chap from his club. An excellent result for him, especially when I think about the quality of some of the other runners there