With my Audax challenge over and eager to pick up my running again and knowing it wouldn’t be long before Geoff went off on his travels, I started to fill my diary with running events.

As predicted and with little notice, Geoff left for Bangkok on 29th October just as I started a week’s holiday! Luckily for me, I had a weekend booked at Sheringham Youth hostel with Gina and Jayne, the plan was to run/walk the 26-mile LDWA Poppy line route, our first attempt at this distance and although the weather was not great and there was lots of mud we did it and had lots of fun along the way. The plan is to progress until we can comfortable do 30 miles of run/walking.

The following weekend on 10th November Gina and I met up again to run the George Munday 10k, my first running event since March. I love this well organized friendly event, its very touching with the RAF officer laying the poppy wreath and 2 mins silence before the start of the race. It was also great to see so many of my running friends at this event, it made me realize how much I had missed my running while dedicating my time to  Audaxing.

At around 4 miles a man ran up to the girl next to me and I heard him say “keep this up and you will be under the hour” which did surprise me, so I then had a little chat with Haley and much to my amazement, I finished  in 58.28 my best 10k time for over 2 years, it also felt good to be pain-free, it has taken over 18 months to recover from my bike fall on black ice, something I hope not to repeat.

Next, it was St Neots Half marathon on 17th November, I have run this event twice before, the last time in 2017 when I tripped on a loose drain cover and broke my elbow, although now pain-free I am still unable to straighten my arm. When I arrived in St Neots to register and meet up with Jayne, Gina, and Linda it was raining and cold. I had trouble deciding what to wear and at the very last min took my base layer off deciding a t-shirt would be enough, I had new skins on too which although very comfortable didn’t have a waistband pocket for my Gel, which I decided to do without.

By the time 10 am came, the rain had stopped and with no wind, it was a perfect running day. I had forgotten how undulating this course was, mile 9 to 10 felt like running through treacle, that’s when I wished I had taken my Gel at mile 6! The marshalls and supporters out on the course were great, it’s always good to hear your name being called out, I even chatted to a guy from Northampton who was just about to move to Wellingborough, which is where I was born.

Much to my delight, I finished in 2.14.44 although I never really noticed the downhill finish !! After the run we went to Weatherspoons for Lunch, steak egg and chips finished the day off perfectly and maybe with a bit more training I will get a better time at Cambridge Half.