Scenery, Mud and Beer

Two weeks to go until the Bridlington Half Marathon, the last race in the club summer championships, and I was starting to get nervous about the lack of mileage over the last few months. Quality training? Yes. Time on my feet? Not much (curse you fetcheveryone, you leave me with nowhere to hide!).

So, not really thinking twice about it I decided to enter the Harewood 10 Mile Trail Race intending to use it as a training run. Saturday had been a beautiful day and several fellow Eccleshill club members who had run the race in previous years reported it was a great course - really scenic.

And it was. It started in the grounds of Harewood House and included parts of the Leeds Country Way, Dales Way and Ebor Way. The route is traffic-free, half in the Harewood House estate, half around Eccup Reservoir and it also passes Emmerdale Village (where I spotted Tom Willams of Marathon Talk fame).

But the rain had started at some point in the early hours of Sunday morning and didn't let up until some point late Sunday afternoon (the race finished by midday). It wasn't just spitting either - it was pretty torrential. What more can I say other than I see the race now seems to have been renamed 'Harewood Trail, Mud and Rain Race' on the organisers' website.

Well, it turns out that I can still run 10 miles with no problems. And in knee deep mud with rain pouring down. My trainers will never be the same again.

Worth it for a bottle of beer?

Definitely.