Orion 15

Today was one of those days where I was seriously questioning my sanity. Did my usual race day prep, waking up early enough to eat and drink. Unfortunately this was accompanied by uncertainty as to whether to actually do the race. Heavy snow had been forecast, but as usual, I didn't expect it to amount to much; I toyed with ideas of going to do a park run instead, or sticking to my training plan whic would have put 8 miles today and 18 miles tomorrow.
Finally about 30 minutes before needing to leave I decided yup, im gonna do it. So I woke my driver up and had a mad rush to get everything together. The drive was a bit treacherous around Chelmsford, but otherwise was fine. Epping forest looked beautiful, an idyllic winter scene.

When I started the race, I assumed I'd be middle of the pack and so tried to keep up with those around me. A couple of 9 minute miles followed; this was way too fast-not particularly slower than my half marathon pb. I tried to ease off, but every time the terrain got easier I wanted to take the speed, to save me for later. It took me almost 30 minutes to get throu the first 3 miles, and from then on, the race felt like hell. Steep muddy uphill and downhills. There was even a particularly steep downhill section where I witnessed someone spectacularly fall over. Luckily I stayed on my feet. after about 5 miles I couldn't handle the hills any more and resorted to walking on them. N there were some real tough ones and in the next few miles I was just thinking I probably won't make the cut off point, which was at 8miles within 90 minutes. I had also convinced myself I was last at this point. I did make it, and the next section was a steep uphill where I saw runners way ahead of me on their eay toward the end. They were a lovely bunch, all so encouraging, and saying well done. One even encouraged me to keep going when I had stopped to walk, and got me running again (for about 20 steps)

At 11.5 miles I got to the time I expected to finish the race. It's amazing, last week when I had 3 miles left, I was energised and picked up pace. Today I stopped to txt my fiancé I really wanted to stop, I had a strain in my groin and I just had no energy. The gels clearly weren't having an effect.
I these last few miles I was told a few lies by the marshals... 'Its all downhill from herr' 'it's flat and firm to the finish' and the other is the length of the course. Ms. Garmin had it come up shorter. 14.76 miles. But it had taken me a while to start it, ad. I thunk the hills could affect the measurement somewhat.

What really shocked me about today's race is I have done a lot of training but I was completely unprepared for just how difficult it was. It was like my first half marathon, when I hadn't trained hard enough. I'm not sure I'd do it again, unless i'mm going for a super hilly marathon, but I want to get my road speed up, much faster first.