An off road half marathon, poo and a bonk...

So my mate Debbie (above left) was round for a cuppa and a catch up on Saturday and she mentioned she was running The Harewood Half Marathon today. How much nicer is it to run an organised event where the route is going to be brutal but beautiful and you get to do it with your mate? A million times better than to bimble out 12 solitary miles is the answer. It was a no brainer. With the power of Facebook and a nudge in the right direction I was lucky enough to acquire a number by 8pm last night.

I actually can't remember the last time I safety pinned a number to my chest, it really has been that long. Standing in that cold field this morning listening to people's pre race murmurings and the stamp stamp of people's feet as they tried to keep warm in their pens I realised just how much I have really, really missed it. The lovely thing about today's run was there was no plan, there was no time goal and there was absolutely not a drop of pressure. Debbie didn't have any particular goal other than to enjoy it and get round and that's (nearly) exactly what we did. Having not run that long in over three weeks and not really done what you would call 'training' while we were on holiday I did wonder how hard I might find it. The terrain was rough, muddy and technical and as we chitted and chatted the miles just whizzed by and I felt great. We both ran at absolutely conversational pace and met up with another mutual friend Nicky and so we ran as a three. In fact I'd go as far as to say we gossiped for at least the first 8 miles and then things changed. I needed a poo (sorry if this is too much information). Humour me and I'll explain why this is important to point out. In the past on any given race I only ever have to consider myself and the things I need to do to get me there etc. Now that I'm the proud owner of two beautiful children I have three of us to sort out which always means I never quite get time to think about me. A pre race poo you will sympathise (surely) is of high importance on said morning. Unfortunately, not when you're feeding two hungry monkeys, both at the same time. So as Aston had boob and I helped Rosie finish her porridge my allotted loo time disappeared. And then it came back.. just after mile 8, with much more urgency than I'd have liked. How lucky I was that the whole course was in an environment that was full of fields and enormous trees and rather than pooing my pants I had to poo behind a tree. Not quite how I'd envisioned this point of the half marathon. Debbie ran on and as I caught her up I soon realised that she was starting to bonk. I felt for her. We were out in the middle of nowhere and without a spectator in sight for much of the race I could see she was sniffing out sugar. A few jelly beans (from a kind runner) later and the rest of the run became about putting one foot in front of the other. Fast forward to the end, a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea later and all was well in the world. Tom had been super Dad with the kids and I had a whole 13.1 miles of running where I didn't worry about anything other than enjoying the fantastic scenery, not pooing my pants and Debbie not fainting.

The time 2hrs and 19 minutes. The slowest half mara I've ever done. The hardest half mara I've ever done in terms of terrain. And the easiest half mara I've ever done in terms of effort. Time on my feet is the only thing that is going to help come Comrades.

Thanks Debbie and Nicky.

Ps: Debbie eat more breakfast next time ;) x

H