Lacock Abbey 10k

One of the races we've entered this year was Lacock 10k.  It was fairly flat but surprisingly challenging, with a number of styles, a waterlocked section right at the start but next to no hills.  I managed to get back in just over 50 minutes... still some way to go to get back to my 43min 10k from 2009...

Nicky took other photos on the day but I wasn't in any of them, just some other bloke in a red and white top

A 10 mile run near Blagdon

Nicky had the day off so for 'fun' we went to a gorge near Blagdon (I forget the name) and ran 10 miles; it started with a ridiculous climb up the cliff face to get to the top of the ridge on one side of the road.  We crossed paths with some lovely Exmoor ponies towards the end of the run.

We scrabbled up, and then down, this...

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Bath Skyline 10k

We found out about the Relish Races 10k skyline series but only in time for me to run the last of the three.  It was a pretty challenging course; 2 laps of trail with unexpected climbs as you turn corners but great fun!  Perhaps I'll run all three next year.

Yes I was knackered at the end!

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Winter photos from Shepton

It got quite snowy and my run training programme doesn't allow me to let up and stay at home so I took a couple of pics in Ham Wood and by Bowlish of the dogs in their winter gear and when it snowed.

Wearing a coat doesn't stop them belting around...

Snow in Ham Woods

Get off the sofa!

Shepton Mallet Fun Run

Back at the start of the month there was a local run; the Shepton Mallet Fun Run.  It comes in either 10k 5k or a junior 1k.  I entered the 10k and Nicky, Oscar and Izzy (Oscar's key worker at his nursery) entered the 1k run.

It all looked like it was going to go well but Oscar was terrified of someone in a giant bear, which was supposed to encourage the kids to run, so refused to run so Nicky carried him for 1/2km before bowing out.  Stupid bears...

I did the 10km but was knackered; I hadn't run for ages so was glad I did it.  It happened to be a crazy heat wave so temperatures were an unexpected 26 degrees centigrade.

View Shepton Fun Run in a larger map

There was a good turn out for the Junior run, prizes for anyone who can spot Nicky, Izzy and Oscar 

The scary pirate bear....

Yes, it was hot but I got a medal and a butty to eat at the end!

Mad dash

Saturday was the RUH Mad Dash.  We entered Oscar into the 200m toddle, he didn't seem to sure of why we were there in the field by Bath Spa Campus (which is really pleasant by the way).  But when everyone lined up and started running he got the idea.  Unfortunately a little tumble near the start put his off so Nicky had to pick him up and run all the way.

He got a goody bag and both Oscar and Nicky got a nice medal for taking part although Oscar really wasn't impressed with the teddy bear in the goody bag.

We think we'll go again next year when one of us can run the 10k or 2k race too.

Oscar and Nicky rearing to get running!

Looking at this shot Oscar actually managed to run some distance!

I ran all that way for this?

We suffered an epic fail using Google Maps as a search for a nearby country park offered us all sorts of results but unfortunately Google doesn't seem to know what a country park is.  It took us to Iford house, which does look very pleasant but wasn't what we were after; fortunately we did find Barton Farm Country Park using trusty paper map 'and a little bit of Googling'.  Oscar really enjoyed paddling in the stream, we only stayed for a short while as the lack of hard cash and hunger took us on our way in search of either a cash point or somewhere that we could pay by card...

Oscar really enjoyed finding fish in the water.

Sunday was eventful, but not in a good way.  When walking the dogs with Oscar in his backpack carrier George, in his rabbit chasing frenzy, disturbed a wasp nest and they went for us.  Toby got stung in his back leg, George in his mouth (although his adrenalin seemed to stop the effects until he got home), and I got stung on my hand, arm, chin and head; fortunately Oscar escaped unscathed.  Predictably I ran off screaming like a pansy and Oscar thought this was hilarious.

Westbury Wander

Today we went to visit Mick and Helen in Westbury. I took part in a really enjoyable run around the hills called the Westbury Wander, the others went for a nice dog walk in the pouring rain. Super fun!

Oscar had a great day, he loves going to see Nanna and Grandad (as you can see from the picture he had lots of fun) and it was a chance for George to meet the canine side of the family.

The run was quite a small event run by Stampede Sports around the Westbury hills near the White Horse. The organisers did a great job and the participants were all very friendly and welcoming.  There were some families, a range of ages and faster runners which meant there was a mixed group; which was reassuring for slow coaches like me.

The checkpoints were well positioned; slow runners could go for a meandering route collecting as many lower scoring checkpoints without going too far a-field. Faster entrants could test themselves and go for the far reaching red flags but I don't think anyone could get them all in the time limit.  The weather was really wet and visibility was tough, all of the flags were put just out of line of sight but not stupidly hidden and their positioning on the map was spot on.

I was surprised that I'd not done so badly on the ranking table and really had a great time. I was convinced that I'd come last so just concentrated on enjoying the run. I planned a route for all the yellow flags and all but one blue, but couldn't find one yellow flag and must have run straight past in a post hill climb confusion ;( but did finish, quite a lot wetter than I started, just inside the time limit.  My phone GPS went crazy when I started recording so a bit of misleading data but here's the google map that I recorded on My Tracks http://goo.gl/maps/jCW3. I've put a copy of the race map with the other pictures.

I passed an awesome chalk pit which the army use as a firing range for training, I took a photo that you can see below. I got snapped by the event photographer, the proper pictures are listed on the link above but I've taken a screen grab of the low res picture for this post.