I was woken at 5am by neighbours heading out to see the 6am mass balloon ascent, just the three hours before my alarm was due to go off. Not perfect preparation for an off-road 10km race (only a week after the off-road 10km race at Blaise Castle) but nevermind. I trundled along to Lacock Abbey via the back roads since it was so early, but had a bit of a panic at the car park where the price had risen to £3 from the advertised £2 and I had to run to a nearby pub to get some change. I headed straight to registration from the pub to find that my name was missing from the list, but they rustled up a number for me and I dashed to the car park and back, returning just in time for the start of the men’s race.

It was a narrow course with some pinch points going over stiles, so the men went off 10 minutes before the ladies to reduce the traffic through those points. It was particularly satisfying therefore when we started to pass some of the men, knowing that they had that head start. I tried to keep an even pace instead of my usual dash from the line and seemed to be in better condition than last week. This was backed up by my time which was faster (though the course was a little shorter according to my GPS). Official results aren’t in yet, but I think I finished 12th lady with a time of 50:34. Another bib and medal for the collection.

UPDATE: the results have me as 11th lady, 10th in my age category, out of 123 ladies with a time of 50:38.