Chase the Train

A nine mile run along the Bure Valley Railway line from Aylsham to Wroxham - the same route my school's annual sponsored walk used to take. The steam train gives you about twenty minutes head start before it heads off, taking about 40 minutes to get there so really you have to try and get there in an hour if you have any chance of "beating" it.

It was a small field of 66 which was lucky as it was a single track path the whole way so there was not much scope for overtaking. I went off a bit too quickly again - and got a pretty harsh stitch after about 3 miles, also the ground was uneven and rocky so my eyes were planted firmly on the floor in front of me - especially after seeing the man in front of me come down with a THUD in the first mile. However as soon as I got rid of the stitch and got used to the rocky, grassy path I actually started enjoying myself. In fact I may have even burst out into a line or two of the train song from Dumbo although for the last mile it was a bit more like the "i think I can I think I can I think I can... I knew I could" bit.

Unfortunately the train caught me in the last 2 miles (I may have done a comedy slow motion James Bond style "Noooooooooooooooo" as it did) but I was very happy with my time of 1 hour 10 minutes and it was a bonus to have my parents making their debut in the race support role (Mum on photos and snickers purchasing, Dad on driving, running tips and stressing me out about how quick he/other people would run it).

Time : 01:10:26

Position : 32nd out of 66