Today was the day Horton Winter Bull run, a race aimed at more serious runners and comprises road and off-road terrain along with some testing early inclines. This was the first event as a 3 some since the Severn Bridge Half Marathon in August and it will have proved as a good training event for Dave and Tony who are competing in the Chepstow Stampede next weekend. I should also mention Charlie “Chaz” Walwin who appears to be the latest member of the Chuggers also joined us, a brave feat given his minimal amount of training.
The course was just under the 6 mile mark according to my Garmin watch and the weather conditions proved to be far better than I feared earlier in the week. We arrived around 9.45 to allow enough time to submit our entry forms and get the nervous crap out the way. But before long we were on the start line waiting for the fog horn to start the race. As expected Dave started the first mile quickly as he often ranks himself favorite to win. I did my best to stay within distance although I wasn’t worried about a gap opening as I knew the upcoming hills aren’t a favorite and as anticipated I was able to catch Dave on the early inclines and build a reasonable lead. At this point I was still feeling rather negative as my breathing rhythm wasn’t right maybe due to the uneven course which none of us are particularly used to. My legs were also feeling fairly heavy from yesterday’s hockey match – Not an excuse.
As the race went on I started to find my gear and mile 3 (8:39) and 4 (7:17) proved to be my quickest miles. However this good feeling was soon to change and after some more incline my legs were starting to feel heavy. Having previously looked behind not to see Dave he was now well within sight and by the 4.7 mile mark we were running together. This continued right until the last 50 meters where it looked like we were going to cross the finish line together until we decided to sprint down the guy ahead and Dave finishing a few seconds ahead. That said I was happy with the time and it was good to do some hill running although I never felt that way at the time.
I had barely finished my cup of finishing water before Tony was crossing the finishing line and still looking strong. Chaz finishing a few minutes after with a very respectable time.
The final results will show just how close the 4 of us finished.