http://www.belvoirchallenge.co.uk/
The weekend got off to the best start - thank you to all my colleagues at work who made me a good luck running card, my first running card!
Then hopped on to the train up to Grantham with Andrew to meet my folks, for pre-race delicious pasta FEAST.
6.15 alarm. On a Saturday! Ouch. Time for breakfast. Wheatabix/banana/honey and a chilli hot cross bun (not sure how I feel about that). Fueled up and ready to go. Race starts in Harby, a tiny village in Leicestershire. Car parking spaces are running out, so quite a trek back to the village school where the race starts. It's definitely snowing. Don't panic. Register and get a little tag with my race number, yellow for 26 milers and green for the 15 milers. Andrew is running the 15 miles (in his first ever race!) and my Mum and Dad are walking the 15 miles for a training walk as they prepare for their 100km walk in the summer (mental!). Almost time for the start. Freezing cold. I've got hand warmers that I've never used before in a run....so pleased I remembered them! Off goes the gun and everyone cheers, here's to the 2013 Belvoir Challenge!
The race was, well....all cross country, up and down hills, muddy, icy, over stiles, through hedges, over fences, through bogs..... but WHAT A RACE!!! For the marathon there were 4 checkpoints during the route, each with cake, CAKE!!! Having never tried cake as a nutrition strategy during a run before (although very experienced with pre and post run cake consumption) I took a gamble and tried it, well it would have been rude not to. I recommend it unreservedly. What a great idea! An opinion shared by those around me, in fact it was the most popular topic of conversation to strike up when coming upon another runner.
Aside from the cake, the race was fantastic, beautiful views made the hills worth it, great company in the other participants, excellent organisation and amazing volunteers always with a smile and encouragement at the checkpoints. Very very different to any other race I've done, but without a doubt up there with my favourites:
Came in at 4:16:49 and 4th lady. Can't believe it! Really happy with how I did, and very excited for the next 12......
Andrew finished in 2:13 and 63rd place - awesome work! And I past my Mum and Dad about 3 miles from the end, was a great boost to see them...they finished in 4:35 - they always amaze me with how fast they can keep walking for so long - well done folks!
Here's to the next one......
