My trip to Oxford has come to an end and I’m back north in the equally un-sunny Stockport.

All in all, a very nice break away and always good to catch up with long-standing friends.

Today was Challenge Race Half-Marathon number 11 – Oxford. And it was the first very wet race of the season. Which given nearly all my races have been in the North West or in North Wales is quite surprising. Still, there are 3 more Challenge races to go, so plenty of time for the weather to do even more dreadful things……

This was the third time the Oxford course has been raced and on the whole it wasn’t a bad course. Mostly flat with little complications. Well I should have gone a bit faster really, but given it was the 3rd of the successive weekend races I didn’t want to push my luck. And I do have a track record of running out of legs before the end…..

Anyway, no such problems today, no walking or slowing down and even a sprint finish – of course with the trademark grin which was carried throughout despite the fact I was totally wet through. I was 379th over the line (out of 3507 finishers) but it took me over a minute to cross the line, so my chip position ought to be higher. The time – 1h36m30s.

So another race where I failed to go sub-1h35m but all in all I was happy with it.

Chris also ran the race – this is the 3rd of the Challenge Races that friends have joined in (Paul in Wilmslow and Tom at Macclesfield plus of course the works outing on the bike ride) so whilst the Challenge is a solo effort, it’s wonderful to get that additional support 😀

And a couple of shouts out for Myeloma UK as well – it’s only taken until October, but perhaps the message is finally getting out there!!!