Mighty May, a new dawn, part deux

[Moyleman]

A tough 10 miler today under a hesitant sky, the sun not quite peeping out from its’ cloudy blanket.
A good crowd awaited the Marina start – despite all the spring marathons being over. We headed out, content with a modest pace to the Saltdean toilets. This has always been a hurdle to me to get that breathing settled and to start enjoying the run. The break at the toilets doesn’t really help, apart from enabling last minute ablutions before we get into the Downs proper.

Telscombe Tye hit us with a stiff headwind, pace at a crawl we eked our way up there. The field turnoff and relief at the farmhouse couldn’t come soon enough. I was particularly struggling with any ascents today, ruing the lapse in training.

We came at last to the lovely sprawling field descent back into Saltdean, the legs free at last. Here we could at last get some conversation going, one of the guys coming from Reading and a regular with the club there. Myself and Sweder recounting our dearest Reading ally “Do you know El Gord we chimed”. No it didn’t quite come over like that, but he knew of the lovely canal routes close by and had done the Reading half. A fell runner by repute and a half decent runner by his modest accounts.

I hung onto everybody’s tails going up Lustrell’s vale, a particularly tough ascent up to Whiteway Lane, which drops back into Rottingdean. This is a great little horse track back, which gets the leg’s ticking over. Up and over Windmill Hill, the panorama to the sea opening up, back to the Marina and our finish, a couple of miles off.

We were caught by some fellow JSJer’s out on a long one. Kevin I know from way back, collared me for this year’s annual 24 hour run in aid of Cancer Research. I agreed to do an hour providing it was at a sensible time as I have the Seaford half the next day. Last year it was a 300m loop, a bit tedious for an hour, but all for a good cause. These guys finished at Ovingdean, leaving just 4 of us to head for the Marina and the long trek in.

Despite the hills it was great to bank that one and a small step up towards my half marathon goal. Next week a snake run beckons.