I’ve lost track when the Sunday long run started. 5 hardy souls rocked up at 8am that first morning to run for 60 minutes in one direction and 60 minutes back.

In the past 8 weeks it’s grown and I think we even touched on 30 runners one Sunday morning. The commitment to setting our alarms as early as 6am was put to the test at Bewl yesterday!

I’d be lying if I said all of the Team achieved their goals and ran the perfect race, but the underlying conclusion was that we were all prepared for the challenge ahead.

We’d put the miles in, we’d trained hard and whilst the undulating dirt tracks and brutal country lane climbs, did test our spirits, overall I think we can be proud of what we achieved.

I approached the race with the mindset it’s just a half marathon with a few hills at the end. It’s not! From the word go you soon realise that the underfoot conditions are going to prove far more demanding on our defined leg muscles, than a normal road run would.

From a personal experience it was a fantastic race. 5 of us agreed to run together before the race began at an designated pace. That was clearly too slow for one of the party who quickly disappeared into the distance and was next seen at the cake stand munching on his rewards.

The two Kev’s soon drifted away from the pack as well, although we hunted them down later en route and my plan to run the whole race with Neil was somewhat selfishly abandoned as I pulled away with 3 miles to go.

Having that company for the majority of the race made it far more enjoyable. We even picked up a few more runners. Robin from Hailsham and Ollie from Seaford, both who were delightful to chat to around the beautiful setting.

It was never a race I was going to push too hard. My goals lie elsewhere and I choose my battles carefully, today was one I didn’t want to lose.

6 others members of the Team made the short trip to Wadhurst, 4 of them arriving in my car way too early and making our mad rush to leave the house 60 minutes earlier completely futile.

Jacqueline Scott was the first Hastings Runners to cross the finish line, even before a certain Matt Draper. The fact Matt and the majority of the club ran an extra 10 miles is neither here or there.

Thank you to Jax who along with car park attendee Andy and fellow 5 mile participants Rachel & Adam stayed at the finish line for several hours to cheer us home.

Kate Lewis breezed past on the final hill, looking like she’d only started running 10 minutes earlier, a great sign for her next challenge, the Beachy Head Ultra Marathon 🤯.

Sarah Marzaioli, who just 7 days earlier had suffered from heat stroke at the North Downs Race, finished really strongly to knock over a minute of her time from last year. What an inspiration.

The biggest smile of the day came from Louise Weatherly who stormed up the finishing straight, providing further evidence of how well the training had prepared us all for the challenge, but also how her mindset has become far more positive in recent weeks.

Alison Anderson and Shana Burchett would probably both admit their races hadn’t gone to plan. But both took the positives from completing the challenge and overcoming the demons which so often dominate our thinking on days when running feels tough.

I’m learning all the time about my own running and coaching. It’s a journey I want to keep riding and see how much improvement I can make, especially from a coaching perspective.

I’ve said from the start this isn’t just about PBs (PB stands for Plant Based obviously 😉), but about enjoyment and positive thinking. Train smart, stay injury free and this amazing hobby of ours can become a real passion.

Thanks for reading. Until next time.

Coach Simon.