What a lovely morning I had! Arrived at the village in plenty of time to get organised - registered and got my number, visited the loos, took Squiggy for a stroll and got Canicross gear on. A small, locally organised event so not too busy and a lovely relaxed ‘fun’ atmosphere. We were given a talk by the organiser - he warned us about the long uphill section and rough terrain! Then we were off - some folk with doggies of all shapes and sizes, others without dogs. As we were warned the first part out of the village was steep (most walked) then a short forest section before a long, steep uphill 😬🥵I did manage a little jog! At the top (3km) there was a water station and the routes split. I followed the 10km route out on tracks through fields with great views. Most of the time I was running by myself trying to keep up with a couple of ladies ahead of me! Of course following others is not always the best idea - they went the wrong way and we wasted several minutes looking for the arrow to signal the way 😖 Several gates and more fields, running on the grass was hard work! Eventually I reached the trig point and the Marshall shouted - ‘go left, all down hill now!’ (7km). My pace picked up as we ran fast downhill through a grassy field - great fun! Then a forested part - where I had to watch out for roots and finally down a stony, rough track. I managed to keep running but really needed to concentrate. I was determined not to slip and get injured. Squiggy has learnt to run to heel when we go down hill - good doggie 🐶. The last part of the route was past the church and through the village back to the start. I picked up the pace and gave a little sprint to the line, determined to get there before two other (younger) ladies with their dogs who were hot on my heels!! 😂.
Squiggy had a paddle in the river and then I had a cup of tea and delicious homemade carrot cake, made and served by local volunteers - yummy. All in all a great event and all that uphill must count as a good training run!
Written by
skysue16
Half Marathon
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Yes, I was determined not to fall/trip over. Mostly because of my upcoming HM but also because neither hubby or my sister were available today, to come to the rescue, if I did hurt myself! 🤕
This sounds just amazing skysue16, apart from your pacers going off track for a bit.
Hope you both enjoyed it. I think I’d love to be a spectator and maybe have a go with Enzo, but we do argue so about all the sniffing and lurching into hedges.
It is a fantastic sport, very popular. I took it up mainly as a way of exercising Squiggy safely on the lead (he is not good with livestock 🐑 !!).Of course great exercise for me too! I wear a harness round my hips/waist so I can run handsfree. This is only the second time we have run with others, Squiggy doesn’t bother about the other people/dogs and loves to run 😊🐾🐶
Well done skysue16 - I did a taster session of canicross today in my local woods with a recently qualified Dogifit instructor! My lab enjoyed it ! After a minor op next month and recovery I shall be taking up canicross! Lovely fun and it will improve my running confidence and my lab will love it too! 🐾
I am glad you enjoyed your session. I bought my gear from Dogfit, they are very helpful 😊 Have fun - it is a great way to exercise both human and dog! 🐾🐶
What a great sounding event and what a wonderful running buddy you have too 🐕 It sounds like you had lots of fun, and lovely homemade cake at the end, just perfect 🍰😋😊
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