Gold medalist

After all my fretting about the state of my calves, me and my 2 team mates won our club relay race today!

The format of the race is teams of 3 picked at random from the entrants within the club. A handicap is then assigned based on our pace in the club's summer handicap series. The race is run around the local footpaths, with a few bits of road (pavement) to link them. There are 9 legs of between 2 and 3 miles, totalling 22 miles, each runner doing 3 legs. Everyone starts together, but first over the finish line may not be the winner: that depends on the timings when the handicaps have been deducted.

I had contemplated holding back and saving my legs, but as soon as we started, the red mist descended and I blasted it. It was fun but tiring! I'm not sure that was the best marathon preparation, with the associated injury risk, simply from hard running or turning my ankle on the uneven ground, but I enjoyed it. I'm knackered sitting here writing this.

John, the organiser of the race, and his wife Chris, laid on a nice buffet afterwards. They do a really good job of organising the race. We sat around in the garden waiting for the results; it was a really nice day, if a touch windy. John read all the times out working backwards through the teams, until he read out the second place team, and I realised I'd won! Well done team! Tony and Andy clearly did good jobs. We were obviously all giving it some stick, despite Tony also saying he was going to take it easy!

I won this event last year with different team mates. I suspect the fact that I've been improving so much lately gives me a favourable handicap.

I suppose the win justifies the risk. I was aware of how tight my calves were, particularly on my last leg, but I think I've got away with it. Tesco Express were yet again out of ice, so I was denied my ice bath. I have a massage tomorrow though, so it should sort out any potential problems. I have several hard sessions next week - the classic 'drop the mileage increase the intensity' tapering scheme, so I still need to be careful.

2 weeks to go! Nearly there!