In many ways, the story is much like South Devon. Very wet weather leading up to the race left the course very heavy underfoot, but the day itself was beautiful - a nice temperature, and sunny most of the time.
For the first time this season Lawrence was also there, running the 10k. The challenge was whether with 90 minutes start I could get back before him. But then they moved the start time for the 10k so I only got 70 minutes start, and there was no chance! But it was still good to be running with him.
Maggie and Andrew dropped us off in Little Haven, which really is a most picturesque place, and made off for St Davids, where they saw the sights and found a fine tea room for lunch. While I was running. Ho Hum, I suppose it is self inflicted.
And so we were off. Like South Devon, they used a "dib out" start so the clock didn't start ticking until you crossed the start line - but it does mean you don't know where you are relative to other people if (like me) you start in the middle of the bunch.
And so up the hill, and up the steps (see the picture from last year on the left), and onto the coast path for the first mile or so. Unfortunately the next bit of path was rendered "unrunnable" by the weather, so we had to detour inland and down the road for about 2 miles before rejoining the path, but that did at least give a good chance to get some relatively easy distance covered.
Just at the end of this stretch, I overtook the young lady in pink in the attached picture (Cressida) - who promptly decided I made a good pacemaker, and followed me for the next 5 miles along the coast - which like South Devon was notable for excellent views and thick, slippery mud. This is the flattest of the four races I am doing, but it turned out not by any means to be the easiest.
Gentle undulations and more mud followed, and then we left the coast, and as always happens on these courses, that meant a long drag uphill to the inland path back. At the top of that, Cressida demonstrated that she had always been able to go faster than me by pulling away 50 yards or so - a lead she stretched to 200 yeads by the end. But the last laugh was on me, as we shall see.
Unusually, but in part due to the diversion, we completed a short loop at the end, then back down the same path as on the way out for most of the way back - which of course meant it was even muddier. Then the road, which seemed much longer than it had an hour and a bit earlier, and finally down the hill to Little Haven.
I finished 113 out of 265 finishers, in 2:21:02. The winner was 1:43:53, so I was 1.36 times his time - marginally worse than in South Devon. But if I compare to the guy who won the series last year, I have improved from 1.38 times his time in Gower, to 1.35 times in South Devon, and 1.24 times here.
So why did I get the last laugh?? Well it turned out that although Cressida got back 39 seconds before me, I had started 61 seconds after her, so I beat her by 22 seconds!
All in all, another great day. And then we rounded it off with a fabulous meal at Hurst House. Or at least Maggie, Andrew and I did. Lawrence got a British Rail Sandwich (or the modern equivalent) on a train to Manchester for a week's hiking and camping in the Lakes.
Roll on Exmoor. Bring on those hills.
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