Wow! What a fun night! Two running buddies and I drove to the middle of Thetford Forest, where an activity centre is based. It was a fine evening, but the temperature was beginning to drop quite quickly. We had to be there early to register, and made sure we had plenty of time. The downside to that was that we had lots of time to kill, so we sought refuge in the warm car.
Shortly before the run started, we went for a brisk walk and did some stretches, so we were ready to go. It was just about dark now, and all the lights were on, and disco music was playing.
The crowd of 800 runners was guided around a huge arc, and directed towards the start. There were one minute wave starts, and we were number four. As each wave went, loads of dry ice was pumped out amid flashing lights. It was so exciting! The noise swelled from the crowd, as they cheered us off, but as soon as we entered the forest, silence descended.
The going was very good for most of the way, being used by cyclists, walkers and segue-users. When the route took us out to the edge of the forest, it turned into more of a farm track, but was still easy to run on. Back into the forest, it was sandy in places, with quite a few loose flints, which claimed a couple of victims. When I took a breather and walked, my ankle turned over on one, and if I’d been running, I’d have definitely come a cropper. Lucky!
The elite runners shot past us on the right, some chatting away effortlessly, and my friend and I also overtook people! 😱 We gasped, though. 😂
Along the route, there were pretty lights wrapped around the trees, and the beautiful wooden sculptures, including the Gruffalo, were also floodlit. It was really atmospheric. The marshals, of which there were plenty, were also highly visible, and cheered us on our way.
After the first lap, we quickly grabbed some water, then went on to lap 2, our aim being to run 6k. This lap seemed to pass really quickly, and I found my pace easy to sustain, after working on increasing my cadence with the Stepping Stone podcasts.
As we approached the finish, we heard the cheering, and that made us go faster. I crashed through, and went and claimed my medal and banana! 😁 We found our other running buddy, who is a lot faster than us, and made our way back to the car, where it was great to sit down and rest.
It was a great evening, and I’ll definitely do another one! All of a sudden, 10K doesn’t seem so impossible! 😁
Tuesday running club 🏃♀️👍
Another vote for the Kalenji Run Light!
A bit of nostalgia and a novel opportunity
