Woke up feeling pretty good after the Groundhog, not quite raring to go, but no real aches or pains. Got to the start area, and on the walk down to register quickly realised wearing shorts was a big mistake, it was absolutely freezing! A quick car park change later I had my tracksters on and another top layer, plus hat and gloves, ready to run up and down Winter Hill a couple of times. It was really cold on the first climb, the windchill was something else, but once that bit was over and I picked the pace up a bit it wasn't too bad. The plan was to walk up the two major climbs, and take everything else pretty easy, aiming for somewhere around 5:30, which was enough to keep warm, but not so much it was going to cause me any problems later on. All in all it was a pretty good run, had a few good chats, bumped into a guy Dave I'd spoken to at the Liverbird Double who's training for Comrades, and Michael who had run at the Groundhog the day before. Scenery was lovely, especially after all those laps on Saturday, and pretty much coasted around without any real effort. The terrain wasn't too bad, quite a bit of road, lots of rocky paths which were tricky in the snowy parts and a little mud, but my Mizuno Taraweras coped brilliantly. The marshals and checkpoint folks were amazing, really friendly and in great spirits despite the cold (they must have been frozen solid) and the route marking was excellent - didn't even take my map out of my bag, which all made it more enjoyable than it might have been in the conditions. Couple days rest now, and then an easy couple of weeks during which I'll need to decide once and for all which pack I'm using for the Thames Path.
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