Cambridge Boundary Run marathon

Day 64 of the 366 days running challenge. 26.2 miles. Miles to date 406 After yesterdays JB trail run, I was a tad tired as the alarm went off. Luckily my old mucker Richard Jones was also fatigued having run 12 miles yesterday. Lightweight, I ran 12.3. Off we headed to Cambridge uni's boundary run. On arrival, we thought we were in fresher's week, as the glow of young, shiny eager faces meant we almost needed sunglasses. We toyed with just letting the whipper snappers just go and wander over to the start at some point or other, but decided to follow the pack to save having to map read. This was just an extended training run and it was more important to have time on our feet rather than time. We wound through the estates and paused as we reached a level crossing waiting for a train to go by! Those at the front must have had a hearty lead as a result of that stop. It rained from the start and the moment we hit the trails, we knew that it was going to be a very slow, wet, cold and muddy run. The constant rain turned the trails into a mud bath, with the down hills more suited to surfing than running. So much for England's green and pleasant land. At halfway, all those shiny young things stopped and headed for the local wine bars ( there was a half and a full ), which left what grizzeled old veterans there were that had entered. And me, a mere boy at 44. There was then just mud, mud and more mud. Oh, and rain. Lots and lots of rain. The field really was very sparse by now and we couldn't follow anyone. I was stuck with satnav Jones in the middle of fields somewhere around Cambridge, getting more tired as the miles past. Fortunately, the route had been very well marked by the Cambridge crew, with the flour arrow markers holding up despite incessant rain. We trundled in at 4;25, which on a wet, cross country, muddy and cold marathon was fine. Both of us are capable of running an awful lot quicker, but today was just about the miles and being able to run tomorrow. I've got a whole 17 hours rest before my next planned run. Happy days.