I started running with my eldest boy Jake during lockdown. It’s a lovely way to spend time together and as my fitness and confidence with running has grown (thanks to our amazing club) we’ve been able to tackle longer distances together. Since lockdown, Jake (now 21) has got into running in a big way whilst being away at university, including fell running, so he relishes the chance to hit the trails.
So now every summer, we aim to run a trail half marathon together. It’s a nice way to spend a morning together in the beautiful English countryside. Last year we did the Salisbury Plain Half.
This year we ran the Dunstable Downs Trail Half.
I didn’t research the course or read the reviews, just picked it because it’s near to North London (40 mins).
It was a lovely sunny morning, despite this terrible summer we’ve been having. We headed to the Dunstable Downs and Whipsnade Estate National Trust Visitors Centre, easy to find with plenty of parking (and close to the zoo, so would make for a good family day out for those with little ones).
Runaway Racing are very organised, we got our numbers and enjoyed the beautiful views. This a public area so there were lots of people around, a café and plenty of toilets.
We set off at the back of the race, chatting, and all of the runners were really friendly (I find
all runners are).
The race is in three distinct parts.
The start of the race was through fields, narrow paths and woodland. There were 300 runners, whilst not huge it did bottle neck at the beginning, because of the narrow paths and kissing gates. We then ran down an enclosed empty stream bed, with a quick diversion around a cow’s field full of meadow flowers. At the bottom we ran (walked) along the very steep ridgeway with a stunning vista over the Chiltern Hills.
The next phase takes you around a quarry, on a mixture of gravel paths and tracks, and we stopped at the well-stocked food/drink station.
After crossing the road twice, we headed back to the Visitors Centre and along a tarmac path, past all the gliders, right down into Dunstable. We followed a steep grassy hill back up to the Visitors Centre and then ran the first 5k in reverse. The last part was incredibly steep, almost hands and knees steep. Jake had so much energy left from running so slowly, he bound up it twice and came back for me. It’s like running with a Labrador!
We finished at 2.26.55, which I was very happy with as the purpose is to enjoy being out in the countryside together.
My only complaint is that it would have been better to have started an hour earlier than 10.30am so as not to have been running in the heat of the day. I’d highly recommend this race although unfortunately this year it clashed with the Dulwich League (shhhh, don’t tell John!)
Jake moves to Edinburgh in September to do his Masters so I think we’ll run in Scotland next year – where the hills are even bigger!!
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