"When shall we three meet again / In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"

Actually, none of the above, but a pleasant - albeit not baking - summer's evening.


"Where the place? / Upon the heath."

Bushy Park? Close enough. A certain degree of hunting is needed to find registration.


"For ruin's wasteful entrance"

I'm truly sorry, whoever you are, I really am, I just couldn't resist...


"Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain!"

You said you loved me!


"drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things"

But in deference to the good Father, I shall not elaborate further.


"on the quarry of these murder'd deer"

Hmm, they seem very much alive to me, and not entirely interested in the oncoming horde.


"runs against all reason"

But the deer seem to think discretion is the better part of valour (whoops, wrong play) and the runners seem to have got away with it.


"Outrun the pauser"

Merilyn is the first of our three to reach the end of the starting straight.


"Our point of second meeting"

Amanda next...

Pay attention to the dark-skinned woman in the similar greeny-yellow top. This is Sharmila Franks, who we don't actually know, but who recognised Amanda on the start line as the woman from the Esher Church School 10k whose husband was taking photos!


"A third is like the former"

And here's Claire. I should stress that for those who know the Scottish Play by heart, please abstain from continuing the line.


"it takes away the performance"

Ok, I tried to avoid this bit of the text earlier, but the bottle and its friends are almost last.


"And last the hearty welcome"

I mean, somebody has to be, but he's still well ahead of all the people sitting at home watching TV and stuffing their faces with oven chips!


"That will be ere the set of sun."

They take a loop while I go straight on, which is why I stand a chance of getting there first.



"What wood is this before us?"

They'll figure it out with the aid of the marshals. Me, I have nothing but local knowledge (ok, and GPS) to get me were I need to go.


"Lead our first battle: worthy Macduff"

No, I can't get there ahead of the first runner! Some of these guys are demoralisingly fast even when you're riding a bike!


"Look to the lady"

Merilyn definitely in the lead at the Diana fountain.


"O gentle lady / 'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak"

Which is, err, Merilyn's ahead of you, darling :-(


"And so I do commend you to their backs. Farewell."

Claire is still at the back of our group for now; but we're only half-way and a lot can happen yet...


"The victory fell on us"

This is who you have to beat, girls! First lady at 26:25 according to the clock, but officially her gun time is 26:26 and her chip time is 26:24. But either way, she's well in the female lead despite being a virgin (err, I mean, Sports Systems have no other data whatsoever for her than this.)


"That swiftest wing of recompense is slow / To overtake thee"

See that woman ahead of Merilyn? That's Sharmila, who was with Amanda at the start.


"thou art so far before / That swiftest wing of recompense is slow"

Darn! This is the second race in succession that Claire has been behind Amanda all the way until the bit where it counts.


"As whence the sun 'gins his reflection"

Amanda is reflecting... On what, I couldn't say.


"And there an end"

Despite everything, it's a course PB! Amanda's not actually that keen on short, fast races, especially as the summer humidity really doesn't help with her asthma, so she's pretty pleased when she can get her breath back again. It's still a touch frustrating that her friends did even better, but hey, let's find a race with some really vicious uphills [calling Dr Rob!] and she'll be showing everyone how to do it again.


"your little ones"

Merilyn has not hung about chatting, she's got in the T-shirt queue, because she doesn't want to find there are no small sizes left. This does seem to be a frequent complaint, that too many races have too few small shirts, or the 'smalls' are too big in the first place. Merilyn is shorter than Amanda and Claire, who are both a bit above average height for women, but all three are in complete agreement on this. Last year, Claire got one of the children's shirts and it fitted her better than the adult sizes!


"When the hurlyburly's done"

The good new is that Amanda and Claire can both get smalls too, although we won't know until it's too late if they're small enough. (And I have to say, I don't think this year's design is one of the best :-) )


"Prithee, peace"

We go to the bar when there's almst nobody there. The reason for this is that no matter how paranoid my ladies might be, they're still in front of most people, male, female or yet to make up their minds.


"I dare do all that may become a man"

Err... "I'll get in the queue..." We chose our time... wisely.


" as homeward he did come"

Err, 'she'...


"Silver'd in the moon's eclipse"

Yes, well, it's gold rather than silver and not eclipsed at all, but you know, considering Shakespeare wrote the play several hundred years before the 2015 Wedding Day 7k, they work pretty well together!

Steve.