Number of miles run this week –32.
No more practice runs, thankfully. Did some more stride sessions mid-week to keep up my speedwork, then a 10 mile easy run on Friday night. Feels a little odd running on a Friday evening when a lot of people are out for a night out.
Saturday was the annual Test Way Relay race. The idea is for local running clubs to field teams, men’s, women’s and mixed teams and run in relay the entire length of the Test Way. This extends 44 miles in total from Inkpen Beacon to Eling. I ran leg 5 into Stockbridge, which is about 7.5km. Having not had the time to recce the route before I decided to drive to Stockbridge and run my leg in reverse and hopefully ensure I knew the route for the race itself. The traffic for the Romsey Show almost derailed my plans, timing wise. So did a very large piece of farm machinery that blocked the road about 3 miles outside of Stockbridge. Luckily I was able to turn left where I was stopped in traffic and take some very winding back roads into Stockbridge.
With a print out of the OS map for my leg in hand (sounds anatomically impossible as I type it) I set off. I passed a handful of runners coming the other way, as the women’s and mixed teams started an hour before the men’s teams. Glad I did take the opportunity to check out the course as there are a couple of twists and turns on the Test Way that would have had me puzzled had I not taken a leisurely run beforehand. Thankfully my leg was largely shaded and mostly flat as it crossed the Test River to follow the road into Stockbridge. Other legs were less blessed with shade on a hot and sunny day. As it was I managed to take half a minute off my expected time for the leg before passing the metaphorical baton onto my team mate. We are still waiting for the official results but I know we didn’t win the race. Southampton AC amongst other clubs put in some very quick runners this year.
