Morning Run: Letchworth Greenway Challenge

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steevc just finished a 20.92km run, that lasted for 120 minutes.
This run helped steevc burn 1160.0 calories.

Description from Strava:
This is either my third or fourth time running the Greenway Challenge and it is the only half marathon I have done. We have had some wild weather over the last few days, but today looked good with no forecast of rain. I got a lift to Standalone Farm with plenty of time to spare. This time the race numbers were not pre-allocated. You were just given the next one from a pile and the timing chips were on the back rather than having something to fix to your shoe.

It is quite a small event with no road closures, but it is mostly away from roads on the Greenway path that runs around the town. There are marshals at some road crossings, but you have to find you own way. I know it well, but it would not be too hard to miss a turning. I saw a few people from parkrun there and another friend was a marshal.

The start was fairly slow as everyone is squeezing down a narrow path, but we soon spread out. The first hill comes up fairly quickly and I could see people already at the top before I started the climb. As I expected there were a few puddles, but it was pretty good all the way around. You did have to watch out for slippery mud.

I looked for people to follow and settled near a couple of guys from one of the clubs who were chatting away about running marathons. They were talking about trying to do three hours, but they were not running at that pace today. After 7km I could not keep up with them, but I had a pretty good start to the race.

My about half way I was feeling it and a few people came past me. When we got to one of the long climbs I just had to walk for a while. I have run and cycled this route lots of times, so I know what is coming up. There were two drinks stations where I could get some water.

There were a couple more climbs and I just tried to keep going. When we got to the last few km I was wondering if I would get under two hours. Although I was hurting I gave it what I could. As you come back into the farm you have to take a long way around and I just pushed. As I came up to the finish the clock was just over two hours.

They always have a nice selection of cakes for the finishers and I grabbed something chunky as well as some squash before finding somewhere to sit. I already had an email saying my chip time was 2:00:17, which is better than I expected. I am happy enough with that.

I think about doing a marathon, but as I finished this race I could not have gone any further. I was feeling a bit stiff as I walked up to the road for a lift home. After a show I feel a bit better. I have some chores to do and then I am off to an open mic with some fellow Hivers later.

Run free!

If you would like to check out this activity on strava you can see it here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/9026128292

About the Athlete: Older guy trying to keep fit, but still hope to go quicker.

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This is an automated post by @strava2hive and is currently in BETA.

running letchworth greenwaychallenge sportstalk teamuk
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16 comments
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Well done 20 km is a really great effort. It looks like a nice circular route too. Hopefully the weather was ok for you, it was a bit wet here with very mixed weather.

!wine

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The weather was great considering what it's been like. We were lucky. It was hard work for me though.

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What a great job you have done dear @steevc.

At this time when we are going through a heat wave in my country, going that distance, would be quite a challenge to nature and a huge challenge.

I congratulate the very good shape you keep yourself in. I hope you continue to do these inspiring hikes for a very long time!

Ser you soon!


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It was a nice temperature for running here. I can appreciate that the weather may make exercise harder elsewhere. Mind you, people do amazing things in all conditions. You have to be sure it's safe.

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Great effort @steevc, and paced perfectly lol, you aimed for 2 hours, and you got 2 hours!

I think about doing a marathon, but as I finished this race I could not have gone any further.

I guess, although if you were attempting the marathon, you would have done some training for it, and paced yourself for that distance too.

You say you've only done the half marathon here, it might be worth finding a different local half, maybe a flatter course would be easier and help get a time under 2 hours?

anyway, well done, and I'm sure you've earnt a pint or 3 at the open mic later :-)

!LUV
!PIZZA

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Cheers. I would have to train a lot more for a marathon and I have to decide if I want to go through all that. I could be happy enough doing 10ks with the odd half. I need to see what my body will put up with.

I did have a pint :)

!BEER

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Running 20 kilometers is not enough. When I went a few days ago, I could only run four kilometers. And I am only 26 years old.

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Running 20 kilometers is not enough

I suspect you may have meant to say something different. It was more than enough for me :)

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