It’s great to be involved with personal achievements every once in a while and todays’ was Michelles` first half marathon which rendered me bag carrier, water carrier, time keeper and all round cajoler and minder.
The three targets for the day involved completion; not finishing at the back and a target time of 2.15, so, on a bright Sunday morning – 10 years to the day after we were lounging on a Paxos beach hearing the breaking horror of New York City - we scampered out of Epworth, at the back of the field to watch our tactics unfold.
The lanes winding through the flat fields of Northern Lincolnshire provided a different day out as most of our Sundays are spent in the Derbyshire Peaks – the one common denominator today being a hurricane – this one being the fag end of Hurricane Katia - and whilst it has caused mayhem along the Eastern seaboard of the USA, thankfully it only slowed the progress of us lesser lights to a 45 degree shuffle towards the end of the round.
Lovely views of wide open fields and spaces and with very friendly supportive villagers cheering us all through Owston Ferry, West Butterwick and Beltoft, we clipped along for the first 10 miles, working our way through the back dozen or so at a constant measured and pre-planned pace – having around a 5 minute cushion before the testing last 5k which involved a long open stretch of lane and a final hill climb to conclude.
This last flat stretch provided the most trouble and a little touch of self doubt from M, however, refuelled and regathered, we ran the hill - taking another dozen or so scalps before the protection of the market town of Epworth afforded us the luxury of a neat downhill, thankfully becalmed, through the town and around into the marketplace to cross the line with 2.13 on the clock.
Moral of today being: Do the work and get the reward: Michelle stuck to a plan of attack, even through a few injuries and down days, in order to get to todays success.
(With Warren, one of Tickhills` Speedsters with a 1.34 today!!)
Can always tell when things went well as the next outing is already being planned with numbers bought and further challenges are being considered – hopefully Off Road challenges then I can retreat back to the hills!. But a good day out today and well organised local event 15 mins from home AND the second time Michelle has achieved 3 out of 3 for targets – and with some time to spare!.
Bring on the Guy Fawkes 10!
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