Yesterday felt like the first day of spring (or even summer). I gathered with a few other Runnymede Runners at Wraysbury Skiff and Punting Club, just a small group of us but a good enough turnout to represent the group well (all wearing RR jerseys) amongst the larger (but not large) group of chilled out bunch of half- and full-marathon runners.
It was a bit on the warm side at ~12C, but with a thin layer of high cloud and a stiff breeze, not too hot. I wore long sleeves, the right decision in the end) because I knew I'd be on my long, slow, distance-run training pace, and because there was still the distant (or distinct?) chance of rain.
As it turns out, the weather just got better, with some sunny spells, just enough to get a really good turnout of dog-walkers and tourists up from the Runnymede pleasure grounds and Egham itself. I had words of encouragement further upstream from Old Windsor residents walking along the trail/towpath/pavement we followed, back and forth, over a couple of hours.
I felt for those running the full marathon, but this was such a supportive and even intimate-feeling event that I was a bit jealous too, that they were getting such a chilled-yet-accomplished day out of it. I did too, in the end, and have the awesome medal shown above to show for it: a really unique object among my ever-growing pile of medals.
I kept pretty consistently to my chosen LSD-marathon pace and in the process built up my confidence even more towards my own upcoming Southampton marathon. It now feels a question of 13mi --> 20mi --> 26.2, all of which seems doable -- even quite comfortable.
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