Dinton Pastures 10k – July

Last week I took part in the last of the Dinton Pastures 10k series of runs organised by Barnes Fitness. I've been seriously impressed by the whole series, the organisation has been really good with a pretty, fast route, a good atmosphere and some nice touches like results available to print right after the finish.

Source

This month I ran with a friend... At least we turned up and started together. She's always been a bit faster than me but is better on hills so this being a flat course meant I was only 2 minutes behind her. It was a scorcher of an evening but thankfully much of the course, by nature of being in a park, was shaded by trees so I was able to give it a good try and only came in 30 seconds over my previous PB.

One of the better race photos of me...

As this was the last in the series the organisers had put on something a bit special post-race. Not only did we get a chance to try a little open water swimming in the lake but there was also a BBQ! Choices of burgers, sausages and salads (including a vegetarian burger and lashings of fried onions, ketchup and mustard). We spent a very happy half hour devouring our burgers, making friends with the canine companions and soaking up the atmosphere, not to mention enjoying the start of the sunset over the park.

Keep it going lads, runners get hungry!

I do have a soft spot for local, mid-week races and this series has become one of my favourites. I urge you to check out your local race listings (try looking at the running club websites) to see if there are any mid-week races near you. They tend to be cheap, intimate and a great way to break up the week. I'll be dipping my toes into the Yateley 10k series next month for their last race of the season, partly because I felt a bit sad I wasn't doing the whole thing this year and partly because I've been told they have very cool medals this year...

If you've missed my previous posts on the series you can find them here for May and June.

Have you run mid-week races before? If so which one, did you enjoy it and how did it compare to weekend racing?