Firstly, I am a bit late in posting this week. I try to keep to logging things on the Sunday but with the Denbies and the general duties of fatherhood the day ran away with me.

So, the week of the Denbies was a pretty sedate one, Tuesday was a 5 mile run around the block. Wednesday I was unable to run so Thursday I did an 8 mile and Friday was a 3 mile run tapering into the Sunday, the day of the Denbies

Being a 10am start and not too far away we were able to have a reasonable start, Gareth picking me up about 8am (I had already been up 2 hours to help with feeding the boys). I was actually feeling quite nervous about this run, which surprised me as it was set to be fairly straightforward. A couple of people from work had said that they would be there and I think that little bit of pressure to not be at the back of the field was playing on my mind.

Upon arriving we were marshalled into a parking space, we then headed to race control to get our numbers. The race is organised by Events to Live and from first impressions they were putting on a good show, they had a small shop there with running gear on sale with some heavily discounted Gore Jackets and other items (Gareth caving in and getting a jacket, I stayed strong!!). Race numbers acquired we hung around until the 10am start.

Race kicked off to a 1.5 mile uphill along a road, this levelled out and we continued along another road, finally getting to the North Downs Way at about mile 4-5ish. I think this must have carried on for a few miles then back to the road. The route was an out and back, heading out from race start then looping around and back onto the same road we had run up at the start, except now a downhill.

Despite the excellent organisation, friendly marshalls and nice views I wouldn’t do the race again. Simple reason is there was just too much road running and not enough trail.

In addition to the runs this week I have got myself a new treat, a Salomon Advanced Skin S-Lab 5, I haven’t used it yet but will give a review next update.

Total Distance Run: 26.54 Miles, Average Pace: 08:49/mi, Total Time: 03:54:09