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| A brief pause from the rain in the Vale of Clywd |
I became a little concerned on the drive to the venue as the rain and the hilly terrain made me think I was going to be in for a tough morning. Thankfully the amazing rainbow pictured below was a good distraction. The Llandyrnog Sports Pavilion was easy to find although the car park was a bit of a quagmire. Registration was hassle free, mainly due to the small start numbers.
Just as the race was about to start, the sky turned black, the wind picked up and it started to hail. The first mile was grim as we were running directly into the wind and the hail was coming at us horizontally. Being somewhat follicularly challenged I regretted my decision not to wear a hat! Although the first mile felt more like a tough man challenge than a gentle run, the weather quickly improved and by the end of the race it was a perfect winters day with blue sky and sunshine.
The race route wound around narrow Welsh country roads and lanes providing fantastic views of the surrounding hillsides. We ran through lots of very pretty villages all with completely unpronounceable names. Although the route was quite up and down there were no killer hills and it definitely has PB potential. None of the roads were closed but they were so quiet I was only passed by a couple of cars throughout the whole race. The event was really well marshalled with plenty of water stations and encouragement along the way.
My plans to try and keep a steady pace throughout the race were scuppered by the inclement weather at the start. This caused me to go off quickly, mainly to try and warm up. My times slowed in the second half of the race partly due to my fast start and also because the relatively small number of runners meant that there wasn't anyone to latch on to to drag me along. Despite this the wide variation in my splits (6min 30sec to 9min 40sec) makes me think that some of the mile markers may not have been very accurately placed.
Overall this was a really enjoyable race with a fantastically picturesque route. It is definitely a race that I would recommend my fellow Striders to consider next year.
For more information visit the website.
Fran Gilchrist