What a hoot that was! I have to tell you, I was absolutely dreading this run. Mostly because I knew what to expect as I ran a HM only 2 weeks ago in similar conditions. 💨💨 I’d been watching the weather forecast all week, getting more and more despondent, as where I run on the trails, the wind is relentless. To add insult to injury my escape “sheltered” trails - which had become smooth and bone dry - had been rained on hard over the last 48 hours and I couldn’t risk clagging my treads up and carrying extra weight!
Soooo - here’s where I had to dig extra deep. I ran round and round and round and round in 0.47km loops! The footing was fine and the SW wind thankfully was only head-on on the short edge (westerly last time which was brutal). It was 32kph though, so stronger than 2 weeks ago. 💨💨💨
The cheery (albeit robotic 😅) linda9389 had me smiling with the brilliant commentary and VRB shoutouts, and what a fab playlist! 🎶 I was bopping (ish) whilst running along! 🏃♀️🎶🏃♀️ I munched jelly babies and mini Haribo strawberries and sheer stubbornness had Flossie and I romping home in 3hrs 00m 17 seconds. I lopped 5 minutes off 2 weeks ago. 💪 I was off my non-trail PB by 11 minutes, but heck the trails and that #*@! wind must be worth something!
What a wonderful event! I’m mighty happy it’s over, but yes I’d do it again (possibly not on the common!) 🎉
Written by
cheekychipmunks
Half Marathon
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Whoop whoop, another half marathon done and dusted. I don’t know how you can run .47km circuits for 3 hours cheekychipmunks, you definitely deserve an award. 🏆🥇🏵 Did you swap direction half way through to balance the strain on hips and ankles?
I am afraid we wimped out of the windy run and are doing ours on a sunny Tuesday when it’s a bit quieter too.
Enjoy a nice long bath and get someone else to do Sunday lunch
Thanks Dexy. 🙏🏻 I didn’t change direction because it would have altered where the wind would hit me in the face! So round and round in clockwise loops I trotted. 🏃♀️🏃♀️ I didn’t dare veer off because I found a comfy little niche which I was scared to mess up!
What a tough sounding run Munks! That takes real mental resilience to run around in little loops 😩 so very well done to you 👏💪... and Flossie too of course 🐕
You’ve done brilliantly, two HM’s in two weeks! I’ve been thinking that you might as well join them together next time and run a full FM 🙂
Aww thank you Brian. I’m nothing if not stubborn, and there was no way I wasn’t going to run today. Tempting to walk on occasion, but nope, my little legs kept running. 😀🐕
Awesome effort CC. Two HMs in that space of time is a magnificent achievement. Chill out and eat and drink copiously is the order for the rest of the day! Toughest chipmunk in the world. 👏👏👏👏👏🥂🥇
Thank you BC. A slightly bonkers chipmunk if ever there was one, but you already know that! I’ve achieved my goal of completing my lockdown running with these 2 HMs on the common, and I might venture further afield now ..... but I do love it up there and Flossie can run free, so maybe I won’t! ..... 🥰
Thanks Over62. No records broken on these 2 HMs compared to when I’ve run in town on pavements, but I’m proud I did them. I never thought I’d be able to! 🙏🏻
Thanks Shakes! 😀 My saving grace was the shift from a westerly wind last time to SW today. It makes a heck of a difference, and I’m not sure how I’d have got on otherwise. 🙏🏻
Thanks Juliet! I zoned out and just listened to the tunes for the most part, except towards the end when I was able to count them down, just over 2 loops per km! 😅
Thanks Andrew. Pretty crazy I’d say, but the virtual Bath Half needed to be run on the actual weekend of the real event. Not sure I’d do 2 in quick succession again! 😳
Thanks so much 00marks. 😀 Whoa, what a fantastic run you had! Wasn’t it great running “all together” with our wonderful forum friends? 🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️
Congratulations CC on running your second Half Marathon in two weeks, I hope Flossie enjoyed that run as well, remember to log that run to COGH, once again well done 😀 🏃🏾
From that COGH list I have, there are 78 people taking part, there are more runners than walkers, at 18.30 UK time 51 have more running totals against 27 walkers although 9 in the top ten have walked more than ran.
Thanks so much over61! Certainly had to dig deep again, but I never thought I’d manage more than 10k on the common and now I’ve run 2 x 10 miles and 2 x HMs up there. All thanks to the support of VRBs like you! 🥰
Thanks CSMN! It would have been properly fun last weekend as the weather couldn’t have been more perfect, but now that it’s over I did enjoy today’s run too. The wind wasn’t pleasant, but I was expecting it, and I was determined not to let it beat me. 😀 wasn’t this event fun? 👏👏
It was fun and challenging. I was tempted to put it off until the conditions were more favourable later in the week. However, I did delay until the driving rain had become more of a drizzle. Xx
Ahh, I bet you’re pleased you overcame the distance and the drizzle now! You’re hardcore! I was my own worst stubborn enemy - I could have driven the short distance into Bristol and run a more conventional route, but no I stuck by my guns and tortured myself on the common! 😳
Thanks Jonathan! The wind shifting from W to SW made a huge difference, even though it was stronger than last time. The weather gods clearly approved of your dance! 🕺😅
Very well done! That is hard doing so many loops! And the weather! I was thinking of you knowing it was the same for your last one! Hope Flossie had fun!
Thanks CLR, I made the best of it after realising I’d be running in similar conditions to last time! Flossie was oblivious, she trotted along happily! 🐕
Great run report and a run of dogged 🐶😉 determination! Well done CC.👏👏🙂 I failed to get the commentary playing on my 10k for some reason🤷♀️ - might try again and use it next weekend instead.
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