Epping Forest Half Marathon

Around 7am, I took the Weaver line from Liverpool Street Station out to Chingford, which was the end of the line. It was just a short walk from the station to the Epping Forest car park where the race start area was set up. I grabbed my bib and stayed warm in the sunlight. It was a fun and festive atmosphere. They had music, and a bit of a warm-up before they started right on time at 9am.

The course starts running through grass, where you have to be careful to dodge “cow pats,” something you don’t want embedded in the outsole of your trainers for the rest of your trip! From the start, I stayed back a bit, trying to keep a challenging but sensible pace. I didn’t really have anything to prove today since it’s only been a few weeks since my BQ in Berlin.

The course had lots of different types of trails. Sometimes it was a wide gravel trail, sometimes it was a single width dirt path, sometimes you were just running through the forest with no discernable trail at all. Luckily, the path was pretty well marked with orange signs and ribbons, though I did depend a lot on other runners, despite the advice from the race director at the briefing to be careful of doing this since there could be non-participants out there, or even perhaps participants who are off course. I’d say 90% of the time, it was totally clear where I needed to go. There were some ambiguous moments, but they cleared up very fast. Shout out to one of my fellow runners who shouted a correction to me when I almost went off course at one point.

It’s a two-loop course and there’s a tough climb up through the 5K / 15K split and just a bit beyond. I was definitely pushing myself pretty hard, trying to keep a steady pace when the course incline got tough. Luckily, however, there weren’t too many obstacles like streams, logs, and rocks along the way. Although I was being very careful, I never felt unsteady or unsure the whole time. I focused on keeping a keen eye on my footing, on the course markers, and well making sure I was getting some good video footage along the way too!

One questionable decision was skipping the restroom after the first loop. It was a bit of a risky move, and despite a bit of discomfort, I made it to the finish without any issues.

It felt great to finish strong with a 1:41:10 and it was the right level of effort for me that day.

And by the way, I had discovered this race by searching for races around the time I had a work trip to the UK anyway and I’m so glad I was able to make this happen. I’m hoping that I continue to have the foresight to keep an eye out for interesting races at my travel destinations!

It was awesome to connect with nature and try a new (to me) fitness challenge while traveling for work.