Wye Valley ULtra

Wye Valley Ultra is a small race (maybe 100 runners) which is an out and back loop along the course of the River Wye from Ross-on-Wye. The 2nd section goes off into some Forestry. For an Ultra it is flat with maybe 1000ft of ascent in total. There is a section on road, but most is tracks, trails and some fields. It was a beautiful day for March, though a little cold when in the shade.

A neighbor of mine, Elle, came along. She had not run anything beyond a 1/2 marathon before. A few months ago she was complaining that she had entered the London Marathon 5 years running, but not got a place. So I suggested why not try the Wye Ultra, it is mostly flat and only 4 miles more and she would have no problem getting a place. Anyway she finished which was a tremendous achievement. I am not sure she quite knew what she was letting herself in for, but seemed really pleased to have finished.

I found the race a little harder than I expected. My time was a bit slower than I was aiming for. I initially thought it was because I had not fully recovered from my blind date with Stu. on Tuesday. I expected 5 days would have been enough to recover, but from watching Eddie's "lots of marathons" program the night before, an expert in such things suggested that it takes 3 weeks to recover from a marathon. Still, I thought it would be good to run on tired legs. The real reason for finding the last 10 miles hard because apparent on the way home where I had to stop to decorate a lay by which by all accounts the characters in Little Britain would have been proud. Small man was projectile ill on friday night and I very much suspect I caught his bug. At least it waited till after the race.

My legs have asked for a week off running. They have not had a rest since December and if they don't get it they promised to make my right knee hurt, so probably best to let them have their way. Might do some biking this week instead.