Race 29: Lewes Downland 10 Miles

Race 29: Lewes Downland 10

1st October 2017

10 Miles

1hr 40mins

MY PENULTIMATE RACE! This is so very exciting. I can’t believe I’ve almost done it… 30 races in less than 12 months. I’m starting to finally feel really proud of my achievement now that the challenge is almost over. Better late than never for a bit of self belief and pride I guess!?

For race 29 I may have been slightly hungover after a late but fun night the evening before with my friends. Gemma hosted a wonderful evening full of red wine, amazing food and fancy dress. It was great fun. Waking up at 6am with a stonking headache was not so fun!

I managed to drift off back to sleep and got a couple more hours and finally woke up at 8am which is actually a massive lie in for us- especially on a race day.

The weather was pretty grotty outside but nowhere near as bad as the weather man suggested it could be throughout the week. (at one point it was expected to chuck it down and blow a gale the whole day). It was a bit wet on our drive over to Lewes and I started to have serious doubts over my choice of running attire. (shorts may have been a bit optimistic). The race HQ was at the same school in Lewes where the Moyleman race started so we were on familiar territory and there were plenty of familiar faces milling about in the main hall. We went to collect our race numbers - these also had a lovely handwritten personal message on the back which I thought was a wonderful touch.

We sat in the warm school hall for as long as we could and wondered why the runners were so eager to head out to the start line over half an hour before the race starts. We eventually left the warm and dry of the school hall with 20 minutes to go before the start and it soon made sense why people left so early- the start line was a good 15 minute march up hill from the school.

It was drizzling and pretty grotty as we trudged our way to the luminous lycra start line but as soon as we assembled for the start siren the drizzle miraculously stopped! I whipped off my pullover and tied it around my waist and started the race relieved to just be in my shorts and vest.

And we were off- it was a fast start as we stormed down hill before turning back on ourselves to head back up the hill. I even managed to catch up with Alex for a bit and gave him a playful whack on the backside with my water bottle. This startled him “running at the same pace as Steph!? NEVER” and he soon picked up his starters pace and disappeared into the crowd. This uphill start never really gave in to a flat… not for the first 3 miles at least. We climbed and we climbed and I tried to make sure I didn’t make the same mistake as last week by heading out too fast. I was also very conscious of my poor legs who had carried me 17 miles just the day before on a marathon training run. I plodded along at a pretty good pace and despite the challenge of a long uphill and my VERY salty sweat dripping into my eyes and intermittently blinding me (i blame the booze for my very dehydrated sweat) I felt pretty good!! I was wearing my trail shoes which were AMAZING during the muddy patches but not so good on the flinty paths as it started to feel like i was wearing ice skates as my feet slipped and slided on the smooth stones underneath my feet.

The start of the second half began with a lovely downhill- I literally flew into mile 6 and was loving it. I was really enjoying the weather- it was breezy, it was fresh and a little damp. It had been a VERY long time since I last ran a race that wasn’t baking hot. The downhill fun soon stopped when it became VERY muddy between mile 7 and 8 as we entered a woody section of the race at the bottom of the south downs. This mile went on forever as my stats demonstrated as it took me 14 minutes to get through the MUD. I was stubborn at first and refused to slow to a walk- managing to get past a few runners who were slipping around in their non trail shoes. But after around 8 minutes of determination i felt my energy being zapped by the mud beneath me and had to slow to a very out of breath and sweaty slip slidy walk to the top of the hill and awaaay from the mud. It was TOUGH.

Thankfully there was a drinks station at the top of the hill and I staggered towards them shouting SUGARRR and stuffed 3 jelly babies into my face. I needed that sugar hit to get me to the end! Most of the last few miles of the race were downhill, it felt good to pick up the pace and see the final miles tick by. The finish was a fast downhill back to the start/ finish line. I wasn’t quite going as fast as I could have as I misheard the race intro and thought we had to head back up hill to finish! A runner began to tail me but as soon as I sensed him (and saw Alex shouting at me) I sprinted ahead and left him in my wake (there is a great action shot of me getting my sprint on… poor guy- haha!) I crossed the finish line with a massive grin on my face. I REALLY enjoyed this race. The hills surrounding Lewes are so tough but so rewarding also. My little legs managed 27 miles in total this weekend! Marathon training is in full swing… One more race to go before I hit 30. I cannot believe it!