Water of Life Results
Some outstanding performances at a very pleasant setting by the Thames. Well done to Robert for his podium finish, and to Denise, Sheila and Joan for winning their categories (although Linda and, er, Steve had to take the place of the latter two when collecting the prizes). Denise’s PB was officially ‘big’, as it was by 3 1/2 minutes.
Hopefully I’ve got all the jokers that were played, but let me know if I’ve missed yours.
Steve won the wine, in addition to his prize collecting duties, and his report follows the results.
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What a day! superb setting, weather not too hot and my short league nemesis injured and not here (sorry Jem!) so it’s Joker day. We arrived nice and early and it felt early as the clocks had gone forward the night before but this meant it was still quite cool even at the 10:00 start time. Got our numbers then found a nice plot of grass to base ourselves, and within minutes the rest of the road runner team appear. Drink drank, loo sorted, banter dealt for not doing the half (I can live with it!), pass up the opportunity to run as a tap or a loo, and the realization that Jem isn’t running and that most of the guys are doing the half, it’s joker time!
The half marathon starts promptly and we are off in 15 minutes, kids get the bags to look after and the normal “be good and don’t fight” speech.
Before we know it we are lined up and we are off, the first mile is mostly tarmac and takes us out of the sports ground and around to join the river towpath, it’s a beautiful day with a slight cool breeze I quickly settle into my pace and find myself running with three other guys, one of which is running in barefoot shoes so I keep passing him on the gravel and he comes past me on the grass. The course is now a mixture of grass and gravel as we follow the river and it’s getting warmer! There are some seriously nice houses on the opposite side of the river and I don’t suppose there are many ambulance staff that live around here. Coming up to mile two and we have a couple of bridges to cross, bit of a queue but never mind, then it’s back along the towpath. Mile three and a welcome water station and the point where we go left and the half runners go right, we are away from the river now and it’s notably warmer but at least it’s gravel so Mr Barefoot is now well behind. Back over the bridges (I am sure they are bigger now?) and we are along the river for the final push, back onto the tarmac and into the sports complex , 200 metres to go and Mr Barefoot passes me again (I hate it when that happens) and it’s over. I collect my medal get a bottle of water a Banana and a tee shirt and have a chat with Mr Barefoot and the other two guys we were running with. The kids are where I left them (result!) they still have our bags (result!) and they haven’t killed each other! In fact they have only been told off once for playing in a sand pit they found near the golf course??(bless em!)
Back to finish line and Sheila is back and before long all the 10Kers are in as well as Robert (excellent result) and within the hour everyone is back.
Presentation time and I share the podium with Robert only he gets award for second overall and I get one for being fastest FV60?? (well done Joan).
Elaine’s back so we’re off for a picnic by the river, wonderful!
What was that splash? Has someone has jumped in? Who would be crazy enough to do something so extreme?? ( Nick I can recommend a good counsellor)
On the whole it was a fantastic day, excellent venue with excellent company. Thanks everyone.
