28km. That's the distance of my first trail race. In truth, I'm not fully prepared: lingering discomfort in my forefoot is likely to play a part in this run. I am familiar with most of the course having lived there for three years and run most of the parts separately; this will, however, be my furthest run in 15 years and will be a great indicator of how my prep is going towards the longer trail in April. Having looked at the times posted for 2007 I expect to be one of the last of the hundred or so runners; I'm trying not to think too much about how that is likely to feel. One might ask why do this run if there is little to be taken from it in terms of performance; for me, it's clear: I want to take part in a race; I want to see what effect spectators and other runners have on my 'strategy'; I want to put the constraints on myself which insist I turn up at a particular time, start running for a set distance and not stop till I've given my current best. This is a necessary discipline and I want a taste of it. Wish me luck! http://pagesperso-orange.fr/randonnee.senteurs/map28.htm

Good luck Johnny. I hope it goes better than you expect and you foot holds up. I've got my trail race tomarrow too. We'll have to compare stories.

Remember to have a great time out there on the trails! Enjoy the race and the company!

Villeveyrac, France: 28k Trail race I'd set the alarm for 5:30 but was awake ahead of it. All my kit was laid out the night before so I dressed quickly and headed for breakfast of porridge and coffee. My family were coming too so as to kill two birds in one hit: we have relatives in the environs and, after seeing me off, they would visit with them till the end of the race. It was an unexpectedly cold start at -3°c but with the sun rising I thought it may warm some. In fact it stayed around zero and I was glad of the layers I'd opted for, especially with my slow pace. This was to be my first race in close to five years; I was really looking forward to being part of an event particularly one like this: local, friendly and directly bebefitting the local community. I met a number of old friends and acquaintances and made more on the trail too. Before the off there were refreshments to be had. I have never seen anything quite like what was on offer: this was truly a French paysan event in the heart of the terroir! Coffee, bread, foie gras, red wine and water... Harbouring doubts about forefoot pain and overall fitness meant for a predictably slow start. Further, seeing this as something of a preparation for a longer trail I was to hold back until it clear I was out of danger before exiting the comfort zone. The trail, after leaving the village was a mixture of wide earth compacted track, railway sleepers ( about 750m) and a good portion of narrow, technical, rock and stone strewn trail of variable ascent. The terrain and pace was easy till 11 or 12k after that, for me, the run started. I'd been well hydrated at the start and kept topping up; I'd taken on some cake and chocolate at the aid station after 9k. From 12k I'd started to breath a little deeper and begun to work the climbs; I was pleased to feel the benefit of my training and found that despite being slow I was comfortable. This really was valuable experience for the longer run in April and gives me confidence in my being able to continue my training to reach the start line for the 100k. OK, to the business end of the run - the course was undulating for the most part, rarely steep, so I was able to run all but a very short, punchy climb. This will be different on a longer run - but not today! I'd been running with a group on and off for about 5k and, realising I had it in me, I said 'au revoir' and pushed. Two things were evident. I'd been more cautious than necessary - hindsight is so cool, and I had better trail skills than the rest of the group. I am sure it was those skills rather than my reserves that opened the gaps in the last 10k. Some of these guys clearly hadn't trained on trails and it showed. I pulled in 123rd from a field of 133 with a time of 3:06 (26.5km) The winner was under 2 hours - RESULTS. I expected being out more than 3 hours after looking at last year's results but am delighted to have run my first trail race, my first race in five years and to have had a taste of competition, comradery and some small amount of pain. In conclusion, I had a strong finish, I recovered quickly after the race and even finishing well down the field I take a lot of positives into the next few month's training.

Great job! It gets addicting...

Thanks for your comment and interest, as always I have another, a 30k planned for March 30th, before The Big One in April. If life continues in this fashion I wouldn't discount a few 'race holidays', never having visited The States it would be a delicious prospect Happy trails PS... Are the photos too big??? I could redo them.

Congratulations Johnny. Sounds like you were well prepared. I'm sure that and the company on the trail made it enjoyable. I'm glad you included pictures. The prerace eats sound great. Did I read that there was chocolate during the race. Was that an aid station or your own. French trail runs sound great. I race for the food and t-shirts. That's my kind of race! I had a good race on Sunday too, but I'll post later. Congratulation again!

Congratulations Johnny. Sounds like you were well prepared. I'm sure that and the company on the trail made it enjoyable. I'm glad you included pictures. The prerace eats sound great. Did I read that there was chocolate during the race. Was that an aid station or your own. French trail runs sound great. I race for the food and t-shirts. That's my kind of race! I had a good race on Sunday too, but I'll post later. Congratulation again!

I look forward to reading about your run TS There are pictures coz I bought my wife a camera for Xmas!!! Seemed there was a gaping hole in our family album - ME As for the chocolate, the organisers put plates of it on the aid station tables. You know, I'd read about people who hit the cola at aid stations so I tried; it seemed too acidic; I reckon it wouldn't do to use it as a staple. I think my teeth would disintegrate. Oh, as I got to the bottom of the plastic beaker I found they'd upped the ente by dropping a sugar cube in just for good measure.. In truth, it was very French! I have the same report on a blog; I think there was an extra picture and there is a short movie clip of the start... It's funny to see a kid and a bloke move in to play football on their road just as the last runners move off. http://run-dx.blogspot.com/2008/02/more-mischief-managed.html