1/10 - The First Race - TOO fast, Leon...!!!

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Not the best night's sleep, in that it took me AGES to get to sleep. But when I woke this morning I was feeling well rested.
Toddled off to make our porridge and kinda 'nodded' at a few early birds....

And then the rain started.

Well - hail!!

Hmmmmm!

It was incredibly relaxed actually.

I missed a call - which was from Jason - who had arrived to see us off
AWESOME, mate :):)

Shortly before 10 we trundled down to the Hall for a quick chat from Scott, Lorna and I had our pic taken with Joss Naylor (what a lovely fella) who - at the start line advised everyone to run fast enough to keep relaxed. :)

We were 'started' by the Gamekeeper - then we made our way to the start proper.
It was good to get started :)
There was a nice little crowd gathered to see us off and after the first mile folk settled into their own races.
I'd started with my Montane top on - it was quite cold. But I dispensed with it at Mile 2 where the first drinks were situated - Jason was there too, taking pictures - A really unexpected surprise :)

I was running a little quickly really, and I knew it, but it was comfortable and the HR was low enough.

And then the rain stopped. I was running pretty much with one of the Adams, chatting away and it was most enjoyable

Jason popped up a further couple of times before our 'agreed' meeting point at Newby Bridge where I grabbed a couple of Jelly Babies.

The turn there which FEELS like half way, saw the wind behind us, and the next few miles were delicious. I was averaging 7:45's which was faster than planned, and I kept on telling myself that this was JUST the first one and to stop running it like it was the ONLY one.
Did I listen?
Errr - no!

I was caught and taken by Tim who was running really nicely, and caught back up to Adam who'd shot off at one point, and then was going through a bit of a rough patch.

The Speed bump at 21 passed without fuss, and the last 5 miles I concentrated on trying minimise the effort I was using.

The run in to the Hall was really nice - there was a sizeable group of folk applauding us in - fab!!!

I dived into the Dining Room to catch the hot food - and to watch for the others finishing.
Lorna came bounding in looking like she'd been out for a 3 mile recovery run :)
And she ran an FANTASTIC time :)

Back to the Lodge for Amy the Physio and Support Person Extraordinaire to do her thing - and drink copious tea :)

It's been a cracking day - and the sun has just come out to cap it off. And Dinner is in an hour.

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