With a week to go, I ran today for ten miles in Friston Forest. On Good Friday I took part in the Good Good Friday Friday run.
To deal with the latter first, it's an annual event that I last took part in in 2009. We meet at Brighton Marina, jog out to the wire fence by the water works opposite Telscombe The, and race back, about 3.75 miles each way. It was a fine afternoon, and the runners were fast, but I felt it no disgrace to be 24th out of 24 finishers, for many of them were very fast indeed.
Today, I went out in drizzle, but quickly found the rain top I had put on too hot-making. I went on a loop through the forest, up to the hill above Jevington and back again beside the A259. At the top, I stopped for a drink and everything was quiet: the only sounds were the dripping of rain through the branches, and the faint pop-popping of guns in the distance. On the way back I startled an egret and heron, side by side in a pond near the Cuckmere.
I feel ready for the marathon. I worry about my legs and my ankles, and which shoes to wear, and a hundred other things, but so one does this close to a race.
Miles this week: 27.23
One week till the Brighton marathon
