Today I managed a 19 mile run, and for most of it I had company. Many of my running friends are now in full training for Amsterdam Marathon in October. A group of five, three of whom I hadn't met before, had arranged to meet at 9am in Cherry Hinton to start a 16 mile run around Cambridge. The run had been planned by my good mate Tony, so I invited myself along.
I first had a 1.5 mile run from home to get to the start, where I met Nigel, Andreas & Megan for the first time, along with Tony and Stephen (who I've only ever met at a couple of half marathons). We were also joined by Jamsheed, Jo and Dan, who had all been running since 8am, but came along to run some of the route with the rest of us.
As the nine of us made our way from Cherry Hinton around the perimeter of Cambridge Airport and on to the River Cam, I couldn't help but think what a striking bunch we were in our assortment of brightly coloured running clothes. I hope that passers by were impressed by how vibrant and healthy we all looked. I'd also like to think that some might have envied our level of health and fitness and that maybe, just maybe, one or two were inspired to take up running to get fit. One can but dream. One part of my goals for running 12 marathons in 2011 was to try and inspire others to set challenging goals for themselves. It would be nice to find out if I have been successful.
Once we'd reached the Cam at Fen Ditton we followed it upstream all the way to Grantchester, which meant taking in plenty of Cambridge City Centre's green spaces, including Midsummer Common, Jesus Green, the Backs, the Mill Pond, Lammas Land and Grantchester Meadows itself. We really are blessed with living in a beautiful green city that is full of history.
The group did become quite fragmented along the way. First we said goodbye to Jamsheed, Jo and Dan on Jesus Green. At this point Megan mentioned that she was struggling with some calf pain. She was determined to carry on, but at a much slower pace to the rest of us. Stephen volunteered to stick with her and help her around, so we left him to it. The remaining four of us carried on at a reasonable pace. We then said goodbye to Nigel at Lammas Land, which was my 10 mile mark (8.5 miles for him). We didn't then see Stephen and Megan again from this point on, so the remaining three of us ended our run uninterrupted.
From Grantchester we headed for Trumpington and then along a short section of the newly opened guided busway to Addenbrookes Hospital, where I bumped into Jim, one of my clients, who was out for a walk. Once we'd made our way past the hospital Tony announced that he was going to knock on a friend's door to ask if he could fill up his water bottle. Andreas and I waited whilst Tony talked to his friend's dog through a window alongside the front door. A short while later Tony's friend opened the door dressed in just a dressing gown and not looking too amused. Turned out that he had shipped his two kids off to visit their grandparents and that he and his wife were making the most of having any empty house. Nice one Tony! I'm sure his friend would have been even less amused if he knew we only had about 3 miles to go.
So after Tony's re-fill, we continued on our way to Cherry Hinton and back round to our meeting point outside Tesco's. From here I continued on my own for the last 2 miles back to my house. All in all a very pleasant Sunday outing and I feel fit and ready to face the next marathon in 3 weeks time.
Just need to make one quick update. It turns out that I won't be running the Grafham Water Marathon, as it is already full. So I'll be sticking to running the Pathfinder 42k Walk, New Forest Marathon and Loch Ness Marathon all as my next three marathons in August, September and October. Just happens that all three will be within a five week period. Never before have I run three marathons so close to each other. Perhaps it's a good job Grafham Water was full.
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