It was almost certainly the correct decision and the day has held other useful activities, including a gentle 10 mile run which felt so much smoother for having returned to speed work only this week and already the reappearance of the flowing form which results. Of course, this puts everything another marathon behind the plan for the year, but it is early May and little need for panic at this stage. The long months of summer will be make or break when other interests burn those weekends currently overflowing with plus-26 mile runs.
Since the Daffodil Dawdle things have been good. The lovely 35 miles of the Pewsey Downsaround went relatively smoothly although I certainly flagged in the second half as the temperature picked up. Still, I saw nobody pass me from halfway and I take it from that, and a not-so-brief look at Strava, that others suffered in the same way. Even if next year holds shorter races, I'd still be tempted to return to Pewsey, particularly with Jenaya having taken part in the 10 mile version of the challenge and found her way safely back to base with sun-kissed and a smile across her face.
A weekend away on holiday followed before the next event, the inaugural Breckland Forest Marathon. Pleasant and very runnable with the only difficulty there being the single-track nature of the trail and the fact the whole event was a single out-and-back. Many people struggled with navigation and I would have had the same problem if I had been going from signage alone but happily the organisers had provided the route as a GPX file and this gave a good enough guide on my watch for decision making. I am aware of the capital investment required for such a watch, but with events coming thick and fast, the time to review in route in advance is difficult to find and time spent pondering which of the many paths to follow across open land can be better spent in getting back to the car early.
Finally, there was the Oxon 40. I had not fully appreciated that the route changed each year and had mentally assumed that I would get around the course in a similar time to 2016. There were a lot more hills than I recall and the elevation shown on my watch suggested an extra 33% or so. Most of these could have been run if you were choosing to put in that level of effort, all but a particular sting near the end which I doubt anyone ran from bottom to top. As with the Pewsey Downsaround a few weeks earlier, I here managed to take a significant chunk from my time of the previous year and other than some slight aches in the knees from poor form during the few long descents, I seemed the no worse for wear and did not feel that I had put in any additional effort but instead benefited from a better base fitness.
So, as the cold slowly clears through my Sunday afternoon, I have time to ponder where another marathon can be slipped into the year's schedule without taking away from life's balance.
