A DIRTY WEEKEND (well a Saturday anyway)

Although I'd been aware of it for years as it's so very local to me (I could have walked to the start - although I didn't OBVIOUSLY!) I'd never done the Dirt Half - but I'd heard really good stuff about it.

It's a trail Half Marathon with a mixture of fields, woods, towpaths and hills - OH THE HILLS - but we'll get to them later!!

It's a proper old-school race with a HQ in a school hall (where you can get a cup of tea) that's bustling and smells of deep heat - and it's a good size too - the field is getting on for about 1000 - just enough to make is feel busy and exciting, but not so big that you spend half an hour shuffling towards the start line (Royal Parks Half I'm talking about YOU!!!).

Before you get to the towpath, you have a lap of the school field to spread out a bit and get into a sensible position as it's not easy to overtake large numbers of people on the canal. Normally, I start a race at slower than race pace, let everyone get carried away, then pick 'em off later - this is not that kind of race - if you don't want to get stuck on the canal - put your foot down!

Once you're out of the school field and onto the canal - you've got about 6 miles of straight, completely flat towpath - insanely fast - I hit the half-Half-Marathon point at 46 minutes (is half-half-marathon a word? It is now!). Which I extrapolated in my head to think - "hmmm... 2 x 46 minutes is 1:32, but I'll have a sprint finish so let's call it 1:31 - that'd be nice -  a 3 minute PB!"  

However, that is NOT how this race goes down - you turn off the canal, onto a track and the road rises... This is okay - I was expecting it, I thought "don't panic - this is just a hill - take it easy and make the time back on the downhill" - unfortunately I then thought "OH MY GOD IT'S JUST GOT STEEPER", "WE'VE BEEN CLIMBING FOR A MILE", "THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE TOP - WHAT - THERE'S MORE - HOW CAN THIS NOT BE THE TOP", "THERE'S A ROAD IN THE DISTANCE THAT MUST BE THE TOP - OH GOD THIS IS GREAT BRICKHILL ISN'T IT - I KNOW THAT ROAD IT'S ALSO A HILL" For context, I had run the previous 6 miles at an average of 7:01 miling and mile 7 was an 8:21! 

But what goes up must come down and from the top of the hill, the next three miles are a RIOT! Flying steeply down Bragenham lane, and racing through the very prettiest (and lumpiest) bits of Rushmere Country Park.

I was wearing road shoes, and Rushmere was pretty slippy, to the point where a couple of times on a steep downhill, I was completely out of control - leaping over roots desperately trying not to trip. Secretly inside, I was hoping that I would look like a mountain goat - skipping gaily over roots - showing a skill and a flair that would put Killian Jornet to shame - but when I ran past a marshall who looked genuinely worried and shouted "please be careful! it's slippy!" I realised just how awful I probably looked. Got away with it though ;-)

As you come out of Rushmere you follow the very end of the Greensand Ridge Way back through the fields to the Grand Union Canal by the Globe Inn - with several gates that need opening (you don't get that in most half marathons!). 

You hit the towpath at around 10 miles; now I can't speak for anyone else (and it is only my 4th half marathon) but for me - 10 miles is the point where I think "okay - we're through the biggest part of this - there's just a ParkRun left" - but in my previous halfs - they've been steadily paced - this had been all over the place! And I had nothing in my legs - it was just about hanging on for another 20 minutes or so.

As you come off the towpath, you loop around Tiddenfoot Waterside Park for the last half mile - and with (to my horror) a short insanely steep climb with a few hundred metres to go, and then... You're there... It's finished! With 1:36:09 (which technically as Royal Parks is not an England Athletics race) a new PB! For a cross country half with a dirty great hill in the middle!

There's a cool medal and fizzy pop at the finish - brilliant marshalls, a great course - DEFINITELY my new favourite race!



Pre-hill obviously!

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