“Two runs and one great morning”, that sums up today in one short phrase. Felix lives locally in Swanmore and was involved in a serious traffic accident in October 2015. From being a high achieving young athlete he is now facing the toughest challenge of his life on his road to recovery. The 3.8K run through the 100 Acre Woods was the first fundraising event for 2016 with a number of others planned for later in the year.

The muddy cross country route started at 9.10am and the idea was for people to have fun running in the forest and also give donations. It was good to catch up with Emma Burton, thanks to Brian Penniall for telling me about the event and I was also lucky to have a quick chat with Felix dad, Stuart. There had been some good coverage in the local media but as I reached the start I couldn’t believe that there were a good 400 people there. I took it steady and aimed at weaving my way in and out of the masses. There really was a “feel good” factor and I’d imagine a lot of money was raised. The link to this run and other events is on their website. I was proud to have contributed to the £5,000 raised !!

 100 Acres with hundreds of people !!

After a quick clean up and dash across to QECP I was parked and getting ready for the 11am Chilly Hilly 10K. The chilly refers to both the temperature and the bowl of food at the end !! I was also aiming to meet up with a couple of people I’ve chatted to on Twitter, Kyle from Hackett massage and James from eGlove. James was busy selling gloves but I managed a quick hand shake and hello. Kyle said he saw me at the start but had to press on and leave as soon as possible. He certainly was in a rush, he came 3rd !!! #awesome.

The 10K course promised to be very muddy and it didn’t let us down, I was really pleased with my Saucony Peregrine trainers in the testing conditions. We had a good turn out from the club as the photo suggests and there was quite a mix of local club runners too.

The route began on firm trails but we were soon on steeper muddier trails where the recent rain was also playing it’s part. I didn’t know the route that well but suffice to say there were endless ascents and descents which meant you never got into any kind of rhythm, in other words, proper cross country running. I almost fell just before half way but managed to rescue myself with some comic arm and leg movements to get my balance back. The combination of a chalk surface under the mud can make it like an ice rink at times. A big thanks to the numerous marshals and Pompey Joggers for hosting it.

We have two Rob Morgan’s at the club and English Rob was testing out his new Gopro so I look forward to watching that as he was near me for quite a while. Our post race chilli really hit the spot and Paul volunteered to take Kyle’s award on his behalf. So, when the two morning runs were coupled with miles to and from the start/finish I clocked 12.4 bringing my January total to 101.3 miles. Countryside running, “Simply the Best” !!

 First 3 Crusaders, Robert Morgan (Welsh Rob) 26th, Rod Nairn 41st, me 83rd !! Out of 231. Full Results