Race to the King is a 53 mile challenge from Slindon to Winchester and it’s only 5 weeks away !!!! On Saturday I mapped out virtually a marathon for us and more importantly our final 13 miles would mimic the 40 to 53 of RTTK. If you follow the link above it plays a short video that finishes around Winchester Cathedral and into its grounds. The final half marathon was what I wanted us to experience today. The photo above is Winchester with the rain falling but our spirits lifted after a great run 🙂

Paul and I had the pleasure of running with Del Roberts for the first time and part of the route with our friend Ros. Del is an experienced ultra runner and co founder of On the Whistle , a local running events company.

In our preparation for RTTK we use every run to try something new, for me today was suntan lotion and a cap 🙂 I’ve just got a feeling that June 24th will be a scorcher !!

As we ran out of Fareham from the train station it was interesting to hear more about Del’s running background and as we hadn’t seen Ros for a while it was good to catch up. Del talked about an interesting evening in June with the adventurer Ranulph Fiennes , so already he’d broadened our horizons.

The first 5 miles brought us to Wickham were the annual horse fair was starting to take shape so we skirted around it and joined the old railway line. By 7 miles it was time to wish Ros well as she was turning back and we pressed on, up the gradual incline, for another 5 miles. The changeable weather replaced our sunshine with dark menacing clouds but even at our steady pace we seemed to be out running the rain.

12 miles in and it was time for our scheduled pit stop at Meonstoke Village Store . This Aladins cave of treasures has numerous locally sourced offerings and if you live in the area it’s well worth popping into so as to support the local producers. Today we really only needed water but it came at just the right time, along with friendly service from the young lady behind the counter. Follow the link above to their website.

In many ways this was the real start of our run because we had some mles in our legs and we were joining the RTTK route. I’d avoided too many photos up to this point as I wanted to give other RTTK runners an insight into the last 13 miles !!

First up is Beacon hill that climbs out of Exton. It’s about 450 feet of elevation and is the last big test. However, saying that there’s quite a few undulations along the way.

Beacon Hill Lane gives way to the steeper White Way that Del and Paul are running here. Why do people run up great big hills I hear you say, well the answer is the view at the top. On this occasion it is Winchester Hill across the valley which is also part of RTTK.

Our trusty South Downs Way signs with the blue acorn point you on your way but at times can blend into the hedges once the wood is weathered, but that’s the point of a recce run 🙂

We continued on our way past farms and barns and Milbury pub. One point we’d all noticed was that the cyclists and walkers that came towards us all had jackets on so there was still the prospect of the black clouds catching us. What we hadn’t reckoned on was hail !! Yes, hail in May. Luckily we only saw it in the hedgerows and Pauls photo.

As we approached Cheeseford Head our mileage was now up to 20 and this was where we’d missed a left hand turn a couple of weeks ago. This gradual hilly section will be at about 47 ish miles on RTTK. We ran it today but I suspect it will need walking in June. The wide track changes to a narrow trail through the trees with lots of tree roots so beware “on the day”. This is also near the Boomtown festival site.

Emerging from the woods we crossed the A272 and after a few fields we were rewarded with our first sight of Winchester and Intec if you know the area. So with about 3 miles left the end was literally in sight.

You can’t beat a downhill section after 22 miles and even the light rain was refreshing. As we weaved our way down the hill and onto narrow county lanes we did have one pause for thought where there were two SDW signs but as Del pointed out one said riders and one walkers. The hedge line that we ran next to looked familiar from a run I did in the opposite direction a couple of years ago so we were closing in on the motorway bridge and Winchester city centre.

Yes, I took more photos than I realised but I think they’ll be useful for anyone who runs this, especially as a point of reference when you are tired. The motorway bridge had a rewarding sign that we just had to take a photo of ……………

All that was left was to find our way through the streets of Winchester, past the Black Boy pub, around Winchester college and the flint walls of the Cathedral (see the RTTK link and their video). Entering the Cathedral was actually quite emotional after 25.5 miles knowing that the next time we do this will be at the end of the race. Unknown to us Winchester’s Mayfest was today. This festival centres mainly around Morris Dancers, some traditional and some very colourful, however, we needed to sit down … ha ha !!

We’d had a great run and Del is now another member of the growing Thomason Tours club i.e. runners that have come on routes that I’ve planned 🙂 We had a well earned Starbucks coffee, made our way to the station and still had time for another train(ing)coffee to warm/ hydrate us.

The 27 minute ride on comfy seats was just what we needed and naturally talk was of future runs and races between Paul, Del and myself.

What about the other 0.7 miles to make the training run a marathon I hear you ask ?? Well I live 3/4’s of a mile from Fareham train station so I bagged my marathon before I got home. Thanks for reading and thanks to Ros, Del and Paul for the company / banter that is essential on long runs.

There maybe some video footage to follow so log in again in the coming days 🙂

Race to the King’s 53 miles are now 7 weeks away so Paul and I decided to catch up on some homework by running a section towards the end of the route. We started in the bottom right hand corner of the map at Meonstoke and joined the RTTK route at about 40.5 just off the old railway line and under the bridge that’s no longer there !! (That link and the remaining links are from Google Maps street view). We followed the undulating South Downs Way path to the A31 which will be about 49.5 miles on the day and was our 9 mile turn around point.

On arrival it was a cold and windy morning so we both started with a long sleeve and short sleeve tops plus jacket. This might sound excessive but kit choice will be key on the day due to the fact that we could be out there for twelve hours, the weather on top of the Downs can be markedly different to the bottom of the valleys and our British Summer time is so unpredictable.

Running through sleepy Exton we soon approached the narrow lanes that take you to the top of Beacon Hill and its trig point. On the RTTK day this will be at about 41.5 miles so the 1.5 mile tarmac lane with its 450 feet elevation will be the last “big” climb to test your physical and mental fortitude. The Beacon itself can be seen just before you take a right hand turn onto the narrow track up to the trig. If you are brave enough to look, here , is the google maps street view as you leave Beacon Hill Lane and start to ascent.

The view back towards Old Winchester Hill where you will have come from is amazing and well worth savouring, I say that because the vast majority of us will be walking towards the trig !!

The trail takes you through a farmyard and along a tree lined section which may be useful if it’s windy but we were lucky today as the wind had dropped and the sun had come out. Now, as we’ve all experienced your mind can play tricks on you when you are running because I mentioned to Paul we must be near Milbury pub about a mile later on, “there’s no pubs around here” was Paul’s reply, just as the path opened out onto the car park and pub. So the Milbury’s pub is now affectionately called the invisible pub.

With the sun getting stronger we stopped for a quick food and drink break in the shade.

Our next noticeable point of reference was Holden Farm but before that we were presented with a classic South Downs photo opportunity with trees, crops, a hill and a trail. This beautiful view is only spoiled be me being in the way !!

As I’m writing this my friend Alison has posted a photo of exactly this location with the caption, “stole your route” which made me laugh !! The South Downs Way ought to be a compulsory trip for everyone to take in the sights.

Did I mention the undulations, well there isn’t anything huge but they do come quite regularly and at this point when we are in the 40 odd miles done stage then I’m sure they will all seem bigger. We crossed the A272, ran around the edge of a field, past yet another barn and then we could see in the distance the A31 traffic at the bottom of the wonderfully named Cheesefoot head. By now we’d clocked 9 miles and the sign that I was next to showed a reassuring 3 miles to Winchester so this will be about 50 of the 53 Race to the King miles. What we also noticed here, were in a couple of tanks in the nearby fields. This turned out to be Juniper Leisure Tank driving  !! How cool is that 🙂

**Update**, after another look at the map we should have turned left instead of heading down towards the A31 where the Winchester sign was. So that’s at about the “V” of Temple Valley on the map at the top of my blog, “ha ho”, the live and learn !!

 As you can see behind me our return leg would start with a hill so Paul played his trump card, a pepperoni pizza pasty. Easy to digest, lots of salt and quite tasty (he let me have some). Our return 9 miles were spent discussing RTTK strategy and all in all the 18 miles were the furthest I’ve run the weekend following a marathon so I was very pleased.

 We leant some valuable course knowledge today as I’m sure that the last 13 miles of our 53 will be much more mental that physical, preparation is the key !! I hope this has helped to give other RTTK runners a flavour (not the pepperoni one) of what’s in store (not Sainsburys) 🙂 We returned to Meonstoke village hall were my request to the lady at the desk of “can we borrow some water on a long term basis please” was met with a “yes certainly”, the hot day had meant we’d both run out.

I will end my blog here but as we speak I am working on a video of snippets that Paul took on our way so watch this space for the final instalment.