A few weeks ago my sister-in-law Jilly got in touch to suggest running this 20-miler. Jilly's signed up for the Brighton Marathon at the start of April and wanted experience of running a longer distance under race conditions.
The route looked good: it follows the south bank of the river Thames from Putney to Richmond and back. Flat, too! So I said yes.
I told Nick about the run, and he in turn encouraged his friends Matt and Lee to join us too.
So, yesterday morning we got up at an ungodly hour to get to Bishops Park by Putney Bridge in time for the start of the race at 08:00.
It was a fine day, staying cool in the early spring sunshine, and with a light breeze forecast to follow us on the return leg. Perfect conditions, in other words.
I maintained a pace of 8:30 minute miles until mile 15 when things started going a bit wobbly. It was not a surprise. I've usually been running at a faster pace but the training has been a little off the boil recently, and 15 miles was the longest I'd run before yesterday.
The final 2 miles were very hard work. Still, they were soon over, and I finished in 2 hours 56 mins.
A great day. Good effort everyone.
