Chase the Bunny by StephenWright

Aka Three go mad in Ruislip

There's nothing quite like a road runner's road trip - and today I picked up Mark "J" Russell and Katrina and headed Northwest to Ruislip, (just north of Heathrow for the uninitiated) for the 9:30am start. 600 entrants to this 4 lap race all on-tarmic/pavement, taking you from urban to rural and back again. Was the course hilly? Well all road races are going to have a certain amount of up-and-down to them, but I would only really classify "hills" in the Beachy Head / Eridge sense of the word. It wouldn't really put me off - Madistone was probably hillier. And being a lapped course, for every up there was a down, and once you'd done the first lap, you knew exactly where the recovery points were! There were two water stations on the course meaning that you could pick up water, and occasionally orange squash.

The facilities for changing were crowded and there was a queue in the mens for the 3 cubicles stretching around the changing room!!! The start involved a mob of runners moving from the pavement on each side of an otherwise open road to form a mass as we headed off downhill, then round a corner for a steady climb. I think that I'd started way up the course because I heard someone say "yeah, we'll do the first 17 miles at 8/m mile and take it from there!!!" My LM pace required steady state 8:47/m pace - and finishing the first mile in 8 minutes knew that I had to slow down. With 4 opportunities to see the official clock I could judge my overall time - first 5 miles in 44 minutes. The second lap involved mainly a mental battle of "i need to go to the loo" vs "i don't need to go to the loo" which culminated at 10 miles with a sneaky return to the loos (this time queue-free, thankfully!!) after which I can summarise the third lap basically being relieved and feeling "much better". I hadn't checked the split times for the whole race but those slight inclines were seeming to be harder and harder by the third time round. After 15 miles I had been lapped by about 5 front-runners. Cheeky! Didn't think I could get away with just finishing at the end of the third lap as those pesky marshalls were recording race numbers. So I endured the final lap, with heavy legs from mile 18 onwards. Welcome to the wall. I held out, didn't walk, and made it home at around 3:06. Mark had come in around 2:40, and Katrina at around 3:15. The weather held out but on the way home it poured down with rain, glad we had a generally cool, slight wind but otherwise clear March day.

I have since spent the whole day lying on the sofa variously watching telly and snoozing. I have even found Crufts strangely compelling!! I am now in bed though at 8:45pm and the desire to sleep is immense. I don't know if I'll be able to walk 2morrow but know that I need to pull my finger out, get 3 or four 18+ mile runs in before the big day - but without injuring myself in the process!! Great to have done the distance under race conditions. Would I do it again?? Ask me after the whole London '08 experience is out the way!!!