Look who’s back in Ambleside. Twice in a month, what a treat. My initial plan was to get a 15 – 20km run in with around 500m elevation to keep on track with my training plan, but the allure of standing in a park in the sopping wet and running the same loop 3 times was too alluring. I can do another run in the evening or tomorrow morning, a classic Wansfell loop or similar. I also fell victim to the gotta go fast mentality.
I took what has become my place at the start line, a couple metres left of the goalposts. Its not the best starting position tactically, but I have now become protective over it. The run started a few minutes late and I opted to leave my waterproof with the marshals to be picked up at the end. The lead group practically dried the ground they passed, moving with blistering speed I had no hope of holding onto. I instead tucked into a line of three youth runners. I had hoped that being in a pack would give me something to work for and push me to go that little bit faster. It did, for all of 1 lap. One glass of wine at dinner and good conversation turned into two as a new bottle was brought out, which turned into three then four. Then the whiskey. This week I didn’t make the mistake of not eating but neglected to properly hydrate before bed and in the morning. I may never learn.
The rain continued to fall, and I continued to slow about 8 seconds every kilometre. This was a combination of going out too quick for my condition and the sheer number of runners who were out this week; 148 in total. This meant a lot of getting stuck in the alley towards millers field, a two way section of the course which is not two people wide. I still managed to put in a good final sprint, but my heart rate let me know it was all too much of an effort for today. I’ll finish the distance and elevation tomorrow.
20:47