Forest of Dean Trails Half Marathon

I was kindly offered a spare space for the Forest of Dean Spring Trails Half Marathon by Jo Marriott who’d decided to go skiing with Crispin at short notice to celebrate his birthday.
Not being at my fittest after having flu a month ago and not having ran this distance since Cardiff in October, I decided I’d give it a bash.
So, I got to be my good friend Jo Marriott for a day!!!
But as we all know, Jo is a MUCH, much faster and better runner than me. So when I text her to say I’d finished and she should be delighted as I’d just recorded her slowest ever half marathon time her humorous response reply that made me laugh out loud from the slopes of “OMG, were you running backwards??!!!” was suitably justified.
Giving your running number to someone else is a generous thing but also a double edged sword. I replied to Jo’s text to say the next time she ran the race she is likely to win a medal for being the most improved runner and achieve a massive PB. You’ve got to look on the bright side!
The positives for me are I really enjoyed this race. A mile or so on tarmac then all the rest on dry gravelly forest trails through the woods. A lovely downhill section a few miles in then a few niggly hills along the route made a perfect route for a cool but dry Sunday run. I came in at 2:02:07 in a position nearer the back than the front of over 1300 runners. A friendly run with lots of chatty people and some great supporters shouting en route.
Back to full health and some serious training starting up at Croft next week…who knows…I may even beat Jo Marriott’s time in the Forest of Dean Spring Half Marathon next year.
Now, that would be something to celebrate!!