An off-road EPIC!

Gillian

Another milestone this morning. Our final long run before the “taper”. I will let Hazel explain about the significance of the taper but suffice it to say I was looking forward to it. Hazel greeted me with an O.S. map between her teeth and a large rucksack on her back looking like Lara Croft, so I was nervous but excited before we set off on our final twenty mile run.
The weather was perfect and the route was by far the most varied and stunning of all our runs to date. The entire run was off road. We followed the Thames Path from Windsor all the way to Henley.
I had assumed we would be on a cinder track by the side of the river for most of the run. I was so wrong. The Thames path took us through numerous locks and weirs, several marinas and picturesque villages, boat yards, across open country fields, the grounds of a National Trust property and past hundreds of boats of every shape and size. We zigzagged from one side of the river to the other over steep wooden bridges. This was fun to start with but quite brutal on my knees by the end especially as at least half of the route was through slippery mud with challenging ruts under foot. It was so much fun though. We ran past many beautiful riverside houses with their own boathouses and moorings. Quite a few had their own tennis courts and swimming pools. Carpets of flowers dared do nothing but stand to attention and not a blade of grass blew in the wrong direction. Oh how the other half live 🙂 In some cases we seemed to be running through their gardens. It was very pretty. We even saw someone selling home made ice cream from their houseboat.

At one point Hazel made me stop to look up and directly above us was the most beautiful Sparrow Hawk circling around our heads. Just magic. I don’t normally see them but this one was so low I couldn’t miss it.

Some sections of the route were bustling with tourists and picnickers by the waters edge. Quite a challenge to navigate past. I’m told we got some funny looks as we weaved among them in their Sunday best since by now we were caked in sloppy mud up to our knees. The challenge of the terrain (and fear of an injury at this stage) slowed us down somewhat, but made for a fantastic run, one which I will store in my bank of treasured memories. I still keep pinching myself. I can’t believe I did it. Mind you, I was nearly on my knees by the end. We were out running for four hours and eighteen seconds, only having walked twice for a couple of minutes to take on fuel and water.
We managed to run through Berkshire into Oxfordshire. The run ended at a bridge in Henley and as if I hadn’t been punished enough, Lara Croft made me squat by the town sign for a photo.
We were greeted by my smiling grandson and Hazel’s running husband who was a real trooper and ran to buy a couple of bags of frozen peas to put on my ankle and both our knees. He also opened a picnic hamper with a large flask of tea and a variety of food. Who couldn’t love a son-in-law with a large flask of tea, an egg custard and a bag of frozen peas after running for four hours?
I went to bed thinking I would sleep like a brick but found myself lying in the dark grinning and reliving every moment of the run. I was buzzing. After a couple of hours I got up and did a few exercises thinking that would knock me out but it made no difference. I was getting angry now as Hazel keeps telling me that sleep is an important part of recovery but I just kept grinning and arguing with myself as to which part of the run was my favourite. Crazy. I think I eventually drifted off to sleep at about three in the morning. Thank you Hazel for a spectacular run and a very special day:)