super impressed by moshi - awesome. Even in my wildest dreams I couldn't achieve something like that - I'd be over the moon with a sub-4 marathon...of which more in due course.
sorry about various gastric calamities - and hope the poorly ones are feeling better soon.
So, race report. Up at about 7.30, having put out my running clobber the night before (including new Lidl 'performance' top which smelt disconcertingly, well, rubbery. Did usual mucking about, but managed to feed and clothe everyone, pack snacks, change of clothes, washing stuff for afterwards. I slept very badly - tossing and turning, and was awake from about 5am, so I felt tired. Day was grey and drizzling, but very little wind - good running weather, but I think DP was less convinced of the merits of mucking about in the woods with DD for 2 hours.
Arranged to meet my friend a few miles from the race location - this went smoothly and we were not late (wipes brow). Rain starts to get a bit heavier - I have been necking water all the way from Dublin to compensate for earlier hydration deficit and by the time we pull in to the parking area I am desperate for a wee. By now it's about 10am, for an 11am start. It's a lovely place, wooded, with trails in various directions, a little teashop all decorated with halloween stuff, tables and chairs set out under canopies (very Hansel and Gretel), so friend and I divest and set off to the start - about a 15 minute walk away. I am cold, thirsty and dying to pee, but the start line is on a country road with no facilities, and people are beginning to gather, so it's not as if I can just hop into a field. But friend and I natter away - I start to feel more and more nervous, even though I know I am well prepared for the distance, if not for pace. We set off, friend quickly moves ahead and I wave her on; I start out too fast, and the first 3km are on the road and gently but steadily uphill. But I'm clocking decent splits at this point (and saying a lot of LFDT to myself); the field is smallish and it's clear that the majority of the runners are going to run somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes (despite the 'run, jog, walk' advertising hoarding I saw on my way there). By this point I am dehydrated, but there's a water station - I pick up a bottle and drink, but I really suffer for this for the next 2 kms - we are now in the forest park, running along good surfaces between beautiful trees - this part is the first of 2 circuits. My pace dips, badly (mile 3 I always find the hardest in any case) and I start to realise that I am probably going to struggle to come in under an hour. At the 6km point, the route forks - we plod on, the leaders turn left to the finish. About 10 of them pass me just before the fork (9 men, 1 woman - I've mostly seen these guys before at other races. One of them stinks to high heaven. The woman, as DP says later to me, looks liked she was sculpted out of something. She is called Paula, it seems).
All the marshals incredibly encouraging, and I manage to pick up pace a little; the route is undulating - rather more than I had expected. I am now with the stragglers. I come heaving up a hill, around the 8km mark, and there at the top are DP and DD grinning and waving at me like mad things. I nearly burst into tears with love and gratitude. My pace picks up. The last 2 are pretty good, helped by the encouragement of the faster runners who are now making their way back to their cars. From this point onward I can hear the mc, then I see the line and the time and I sprint very fast for the last 400 or so. DP, DD and friend are at the line; DD runs past the line with me (she had said in the morning 'can I come? I will try to run with you'. Bless her) but then wants to show me things, so I am pulled over a little bridge to look at ducks.
There was water and bananas (I was dying for a cup of coffee), and a lovely medal which was made out of wood with the logo and date burned on to it. The nicest medal ever. Goody bag was great too - nice long-sleeved T shirt, mars bar, lucozade, haribo halloween sweets, outdoor magazine). It was a lovely race - well organized, lovely atmosphere and I'd love to do it again next year. Sub 1 hour, though, please.
I learned a lot - this was badly timed, and I didn't factor in the pre-race stuff properly. I also need to remember mile 3-4 and how hard that is for me. I need to learn better pacing and actually, really, how to race. I don't think I race, i just run almost the same as I do in training, and i don't know how to alter that.
Anyway, I really want to improve - I think I am a decent enough recreational runner, but I am not getting the results I should. So I have found a running 'improvers' class which I think i will join for some tips and motivation.
sorry very long!