What could be more agreeable, on a bank holiday weekend, than to run 10k through wooded lanes, past a field of llamas and deer coexisting happily over a gently undulating course like this?
This was my first race since the Lewes 10k in April. In the event my knee was fine until the precise moment I passed the 9k marker, at which point I was damned if I would stop. I'd have hopped the last kilometre if necessary.
The marshalling was excellent, by members of the sports clubs who use the village pavilion and had given up their bank holiday Sundays to come out and watch old men stumble round the course. My prize for most enthusiastic marshals goes to the two ladies about about 8k, who burst into paroxysms of joy when I and other runners appeared from behind a bend.
I was delighted to have the company for part of the run of Micky, a gentlemen who told me it would be his 75th birthday in ten days time. If you're reading this, Micky, many happy returns/.
Now I have run a 10k without any major incident, I think I might run a few more, to wit the Hellingly, the Hove Prom, Brighton and Crowborough events. And if I add to that the Lewes Downland Ten Mile, then I have the eight races necessary for the Sussex Grand Prix.
Thanks to Chris Wrathall, the Seaford Striders press officer, for a lift to and from the race.
