Dexy5 has waxed lyrical elsewhere about the New Forest 10k, the great organisation, lovely weather, super course etc so no need to repeat any of that …. I was in the second wave of 10k starters which must have got through the relevant area ahead of the pony stampede, and she appears to have done the run in the wrong direction as the ford where she took the low road (at 4.5k in the pic) came before the road section (5.4 to 6.5), but hey …..
So to the sordid details of my run. Despite the wave departure, it was the best part of a k before there was any chance of running steadily in my own space, so it was enforced interval running that delivered 5'23" for K1. For a while after that it was around 5'05", though there was a long gentle descent in K3 which enabled me to slip in a cheeky 4'50". Shortly after the ford I was overtaken by the longest pair of legs I've ever seen on a run, which I decided to latch on to for a tow for a while. Once we got chatting, the legs decided they wanted to run with me, as my target time would get them home in time to pick up a bonus for their charity, and I had better tech on my wrist. This seemed a bit odd as it was me struggling to keep up at the time, but on we went ….
The road section was slightly uphill, and K6 a little slow as a result (5'12") but we picked up the pace turning back into the forest proper, averaging 4'55"s for Ks 7-9. At which point I realised I'd overcooked it a bit and advised the legs to do their own thing, which they duly did. K10 was then just a matter of hanging on with a 5'10", but we weren't finished yet - K10.25 was the finishing straight and although I thought I was wading through treacle, Mr Garmin gave me a 4'37" average pace for those last unwanted 250 metres.
Chip time (and watch time) for the race was 51'44", against 52'08" in Bristol in May. Watch time for the first 10k was 50'35", so I'm claiming that as my 10k PB (and even at that I'll be having to look over my virtual shoulder for Katnap given his improvement at Stratford).
The funniest moment for me came when someone low-fived a line of guides standing beside the course with 1.5k to go. The problem was it was at the last water station, and they were all holding out cups of water …….. it was the very last one in the line who picked up another cup quickly enough for me to grab it!
The highlight, alongside meeting Mr and Mrs Granspeed , was when the legs rejoined me in the funnel and gave me credit for their time, which had apparently landed an extra £500 for Cancer Research. Not to mention Dexy's PB, or the hour's delay at Beaulieu on the way home caused not by the autojumble, but by a herd of cows on the road (they were very pretty cows, I have to say).
Onward and upward - to a virtual HM with cheekychipmunks on Wednesday week, hopefully.
10K and a new PB! 👊💪🏃♀️🤩
A 10K walk
Almorr HU 10K PB 
