I only really go along to our running club on a Tuesday night (the main club training night) when there is food on offer (Christmas) or when the evening is not following a structured training session! Last night was one of those nights - with the running of the annual ‘20 Ponds Run.’

I ran this in 2007 and 2008 and missed the past two years as I felt that close to 10 miles running through very uneven terrain a week or two before an Ironman triathlon was far too risky. This year I’m not doing an Ironman so it was great to go back and take part again.

To learn a little more about the run please see the post from 2007. When I’ve done this run in the past the weather has been beautiful. This time it was different. It was pouring with rain!

A group of 7 or 8 of us headed off under the lead of Chris Owens who knows the park like the back of his hand. With no maps he led us along paths, through undergrowth, through gates, across streams, over tree stumps and through woods to get to (I believe) 20 different ponds. The route he took was excellent and without a GPS I wouldn’t have a hope in trying to do it on my own.

Although the weather was shocking the run was great fun and was nice and sociable. I very rarely go social running with other people so this was a nice change.

Unfortunately my GPS had no battery power when I turned it on before the run so I the only information I have is that it was around 9 miles and took us about 1 hour 15 minutes in total along a route from the Ranelagh clubhouse back to the clubhouse. The route I believe was the same as I’d run previously (maps available in the earlier posts).