Well, I did it, my first 'event', and it went fine. The first mile and the last half mile were grass and woodland mud tracks, which I ran barefoot, but the bit in the middle was quite rough gravelled or stony track, for which I was glad I had taken my Sockwas. They were super-easy to put off and on, and did fine on the stone and gravel, though a bit slippery on a muddy bit.
I got a few comments along the lines of 'you're brave' from my fellow bringers-up of the rear. No comment from any of the faster people!
I was more concerned to finish in good order and not actually last than to push it, so I think another time I could improve on the time, but I was quite pleased with what my watch recorded as 40m16s (official times out this evening probably). I definitely ran more and walked less than in my usual runs - next time I need to turn off the beep on my watch that tells me I'm exceeding my target heartrate because that got quite annoying! I managed to beat the speed-walker and the woman with the 5 year old boy, anyway (though he and I changed places a few times on the downhills<g>, and had energy left to sprint the last bit which was fun.
Lovely weather, and rather nice running in the morning for a change, though here I am half way through the afternoon with no outing to look forward to.
I got a few comments along the lines of 'you're brave' from my fellow bringers-up of the rear. No comment from any of the faster people!
I was more concerned to finish in good order and not actually last than to push it, so I think another time I could improve on the time, but I was quite pleased with what my watch recorded as 40m16s (official times out this evening probably). I definitely ran more and walked less than in my usual runs - next time I need to turn off the beep on my watch that tells me I'm exceeding my target heartrate because that got quite annoying! I managed to beat the speed-walker and the woman with the 5 year old boy, anyway (though he and I changed places a few times on the downhills<g>, and had energy left to sprint the last bit which was fun.
Lovely weather, and rather nice running in the morning for a change, though here I am half way through the afternoon with no outing to look forward to.
