A little Inspiration

Many don't understand why I do what I do, sometimes I don't either but when I watch this video I get goosebumps, that must mean something ..

Meon Valley

The organisers state ... This will be a tough “No wimps please“, event

Everyone seems to be pulling out but I'm still going!!! I know I need a rest as my body keeps telling me, maybe after this week I can take it easy. I'll be volunteering at the Brighton Half Marathon next weekend so that will stop any long running.

As a nice change I managed to rope in a couple of runners from my club, the Worthing Harriers to join me today. Grant Patterson and Steve Cousins. It's only 21 miles so great for the spring marathon training, I'm not going to kill myself I'm just using it as another building block.

Held near Portsmouth the Meon Valley is 21 miles of trails, fields, tracks, pretty much all off road, most of it muddy. There are plenty of hills including 'The Ball Buster' but aid stations every 4-5 miles made it manageable. Apparently last year driving rain and terrible conditions made it one hell of a run.

The organisers require you to be early to the start venue for the sake of parking but we arrived well early. 08:30 for a 10:30 late start. That was ok though as it gave us time to prep, have a wander around the village and grab a brew from the hall. The weather was holding and the sun was even coming out. The Meon Valley is a fairly small event but there was lots of enthuiasm and as the gun went off there was no holding some people back. Right from the start we were onto the hills and I began to feel it.

My body is quite clearly telling me to take a break from this crazy running, but I keep telling myself I'm so close to my goal now that I must push on. I'm constantly thinking about the potential for injury and how it could affect my MdS dreams, with that in mind I tend to watch my footing a little more carefully and slow down when sensible to do so. On the run today my hamgstrings were a little tight but the overriding feeling was one of a sore a*se. My glutes were killing and I had to pop a couple of Ibuprofen fairly early on. Grant and I were running together but after around mile 8 I had to let him go.I didn't stop but I definitely slowed down.

For the rest of the race I tried to keep steady, I found a few people to chat to, the aid stations were a welcome treat every 4 miles or so. Again there was lots of wet boggy mud and deep flooded paths. On the one hand I was glad of the gore-tex trainers but on the other, the other, the ASR Adrenalines don't offer very much grip at all compared to my other off road shoes. The run in general was a nice off road jaunt, some tough hills and plenty of water. I was glad the weather held as I didn't fancy the troubles of last year.

We all met back up at the finish line, drank tea, ate cake and celebrated with new friends. Its a fair drive from home but this race could feature in my spring marathon training calendar in years to come. From left to right thats Steve in the road trainers (!!!!!!), Grant and Myself, sporting my new x-bionic effektor and montane gilet combo :-)