I signed up for the Run Jericho (Oxford) 10k in June. I've been studying the course, working out where exactly it goes, and decided to give it a try today. The course starts and ends in Jericho, where parking is next to impossible, so I went to the top of the course in Wolvercote and started there.
What a lovely course it is! My run today took me down the towpath of the canal to Jericho, round the streets there, until I discovered that the run day course must go through the grounds of a University college which wasn't available to me today. The proper course cuts over a bridge over the canal and across the bottom of Port Meadow to the Thames and up the banks there. I ended up going back up the same canal towpath until I found an access to Port Meadow and spotted the bridge over the Thames in the distance, so I ran across the Meadow to pick it up and follow the Thames path back up to Wolvercote, having to run through herds of cows on the way! Off the river path onto the lanes of Wolvercote, dipping into the top of Port Meadow for a k or so, then back to where I'd left my car.
With all my faffing around, I ran 12k. The first 10k was in 71:32, which I'm satisfied with given the less than perfect routing and terrain of the run, then I slowed a little and jogged the last two in around 8min/k pace. I was running for almost an hour and a half!
I can feel my improving fitness - this run didn't feel too hard, so I'm hoping that by race day I can have got the time down by a few minutes.
My run - connect.garmin.com/modern/a...
An autumnal Monday jaunt........
Week 8, Run 3 Muddy in places, but what a glorious morning!
