Slaley Trail Half-Marathon, 20th November 2022

“While much of the club had opted for the eminently more sensible option of the Brampton to Carlisle road race, I took on the Slaley Trail Half Marathon. 3 days of torrential rain ensured the going was soft, to say the least. The rain returned for the combined start of 10k and half marathon with the temperature falling to about 5 degrees, but after the first ten minutes or so, some intermittent warm sun began to prevail. Unfortunately, it didn’t dry out the ground and the last 4 miles of the half rejoined the course of the 10k where over 200 runners had already run, ensuring perfect conditions for trench foot. I was hindered by my glasses which constantly steamed up (advice welcomed) and ended up taking them off after mile 4, which rather hindered my speed due to an inability to see much more than green, brown and blue blurs. Still, 12th place and an official time of 1:38:41 were very satisfactory results of what was very definitely type 2 fun.”