I deluded myself into thinking I’d recovered quickly from the previous weekend’s Milton Keynes Deluge Marathon but the first few hundred metres of Abingdon parkrun’s first birthday informed me otherwise. Fortunately I quickly realised I wasn’t back up to speed yet so eased back enough to thoroughly enjoy the event while maintaining an acceptable pace. I even managed negative splits for once and managed to finish in the first half of the field though I think 25:29 is my second slowest to date.

With Bank Holiday Monday came the rain and the whole business of cycling out to Chalgrove and running 10k in the wet was starting to loose it’s appeal. I’d already deleted my 49:59 target time from my portfolio on Fetch as it didn’t seem realistic and I didn’t want to mess my legs up what with a 22 miler planned for Sunday. Still, no good moping about at home on a Bank Hol, so I put on my waterproof coat and boots and off I went.

The race was a centrepiece for the Chalgrove Festival and most of those already present at the rainy festival venue were runners. I locked my bike, queued and got my timing chip, changed my shoes, removed my cycling layers and went to have a pee and a look round as I’d 15 minutes to spare.

The fairground rides and stuff were quiet but there was a fine collection of old stationary engines, mostly 1930’s diesels and similar, and their enthusiastic owners had got most of them running, some operating water pumps and the like. They were all behind a tape barrier and closely attended so hopefully any kids would be deterred from sticking their fingers in 20 kilo of unguarded flywheel though I was tempted to ask the guy whose engine was powering a generator lighting 2 mains lamps resting in the wet grass if he’d had them PAT tested. They smelt comfortably of hot oil and emanated heat while gently ticking over their hypnotic long strokes.

Dragging myself away to dump my sweatshirt I tried to join in the coordinated warm-up but soon retreated when I realised I didn’t have the coordination to wave my arms about safely in a crowd. I settled for a run round the tennis courts. We gathered for the start where at first I wasn’t clear which direction we were going to run. I placed myself roughly mid-field and realised the finish timing mat was also to be the starting one. Noon and we were off.

We ran across the grass through the middle of the festival site then onto the road and through Chalgrove. Little groups of supporters cheered and the rain was gentle. I was comfy in just vest and shorts. I’d traced the route through on electronic OS mapping and it looked pretty flat to me despite them describing it as undulating, it did appear to dip in the first half and rise in the second though so I was prepared for this. We joined some quiet country lanes, the odd car but nothing to spoil the race.

A few runners passed me as I held my pace at just under 8 minute miles but I resisted the urge to chase them. We passed a fine old steam traction engine roller stopped at the side of one tree lined lane, he was doing a grand job of making the few cars and tractors behind him wait for us though I think he may actually have been having a mechanical.

I was feeling rather good and on target for 50 minutes at the halfway point though I did miss out on the water stop as all three water bearers were relieved of their wares by runners immediately ahead and it didn’t seem to matter enough to actually stop, even for the few seconds it would take for them to grab a fresh cup from the table. No matter!

The hill wasn’t so little when we reached it, nothing vaguely monstrous but enough to cost me a few seconds. I did seem to be passing more than passed though so pushed on the best I could to the top. Over the crest and we went down then up again – ok maybe undulating was a fair description after all.

A mile to go and I would still be able to get in under 50 if I kept trying. The 6th mile actually turned out to be my fastest but we did have a bit of a tailwind at that point so I can’t claim all the credit. Back through Chalgrove then back onto the festival site by a shorter route. I finished chip time 49:24, 142nd of 357 runners, and was rewarded with an orange running shirt which I put on straight away as I’d remembered it was still raining.

Riding home without refuelling was a bit of a mistake so I was knackered when I got home and spent the rest of the day failing to do much. A great little village run though and I hope to do it again.