We've had thick fog for the Tadworth 10. We've had dull and slightly drizzly. But today we have bright sun and absolutely bitingly cold wind. It should look better in photos than it feels :-)


The race director looks jolly cheerful as he tells everybody that they should give themselves plenty of time to get to the start...


But Amanda is distinctly unconvinced she wants to spend a fraction of a second longer than absolutely necessary out there!

I think they're just taking the horses for a bit of exercise, not planning to join in the race. That would definitely count as cheating!

Hmm, you know I said "bright sun"? Yes, well there was, but it seems to have faded for the moment. Unfortunately, the wind has stayed just as cold.


The start is a bit on the late side, not sure why, but they're off now.


Tony may be wrapped up well, but I don't think he'd claim to be toasty! I'm hoping that I'll warm up a bit from the effort on the bike.


Hmm... riding uphill directly into the full force of the arctic blast is definitely hard enough work to balance the cold. In fact, it's hard enough that I'll take a moment for a picture of the runners in the distance from the top of the hill.


I get here ahead of Amanda as planned, but only just. Even though I'm now familiar with the route, that headwind was tough!


Then I cut back to where the runners come through on the return half of the loop, which is a rather boring suburban street from any other angle.


Not only can I not tell which side this chap bats for, I  couldn't even say what league he plays in! But it turns out he's not that far ahead of Amanda, so he provides an impossible-to-miss early warning marker!


Back down the muddy lane again, now meeting the front runners well into their second lap. I think it was along here somewhere that I lost my car key a few years back, so I've made sure that all my pockets are well zipped up today!


The top of the downs, and the sun is back.


Beachy Head Marathon hat, ETL buff, Knacker Cracker sweatshirt - she's getting her money's worth from past races!


And here, side by side, it's Sara and Paul, who don't know each other but I introduce them as they run past. They're both behind Amanda, which slightly surprises me, and Paul was behind Sara earlier but now inches ahead.


Here they come out of the relative shelter of the woods, and a drier path than I would have expected based on the deep mud elsewhere. There's a marshal here who also came by bike and got really hot doing it; but that wore off long ago and he's jumping up and down for warmth now!


But what's this? Sara has overtaken Amanda somwhere in the last mile or so. Apparently she does this, putting on a bit of extra speed towards the end of races.


Amanda crosses the line. Paul must be a bit further back, but I'm afraid she's not hanging around to be sociable. She's not even waiting for me!


A very quick pose by this horse sculpture that definitely wasn't there last year, and it's back to the car and heating on full blast!

And now to Cobham to buy wine and skyr!

Sorry? What's skyr? Today's educational supplement is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmsz0XlyxLw

The fake stuff is rather chalky and horrible, but you can buy the real thing in Waitrose, now branded as Ísey Skyr: http://www.iseyskyr.co.uk/ Try it! (You can get a wider range of flavours in Iceland, but I mean the country, not the frozen food store, so it's a bit less convenient for most of us.)

Love to all,

Steve.