Well...with no registered races in the pipeline - here's a long overdue update of another year of Farnham Pilgrim Half Marathon - and the 2nd medal in a week in the distant past of September.
The fun of the trails, and being in nature, faster than a hike, and those cakes! The lovely calendar sitting on my wall in 2013 - showing every month, the lovely scenery of the north downs way...where the pilgrims have been...and this is my 2nd time, so it's starting to feel like Wokingham Half, where the familiarity takes over, but this one never, is an attempt to slash one's 13.1 mile PB. My only target, with a truthful non-existent training (apart from the EMC run on the Wednesday before - still glowing in that '3rd fastest woman in the firm' glory :))- was to beat last year's time.
and I did. by around 2 minutes!
The half marathon itself felt easier than I remembered, the queues to pass the stiles (one here to illustrate) was shorter
the cakes smaller - to motivate myself to the finish I had imagined piles of really really big cakes - but the ones at the finishing line was marvellous as usual..
yes- I have learnt not to take big chunks of mars bars from grubby hands in front of the pub (after the 3 mile climb). I headed for a small piece at the 'authorised' nutrition station and ensure they melted on my molars for that slow release of sugar....
the views were rewarding, and this year with all the hill runs (wimbledon, chobham, richmond and around my neighbourhood) some parts of this were not new to me at all....its watching where my feet were going and not slip...and enjoy the scenery - a faster way than a long hike through the English countryside! and there were a few pilgrims that we spotted - 'There's no discouragement.....I'll labour night and day, to be a Pilgrim'...I sang :)
This year - we have new mugs to bring home, and a 'scary' black t-shirt with the words -
"Hey Road Runner, are you afraid of the woods"?
after my 2nd Farnham Pilgrim - I'd say, NOPE :)
now onto my other pursuits...while i work on the next opportunity to hit the road/trails again...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
