Actually to be honest, it wasn’t pretty. It was rather scary – it was certainly not going to build on that tough manly image of the men of Sevenoaks getting up at the crack of dawn and running through the wilds of Kent with no regard for mud, brambles and rough terrain. Probably topped by Ian’s pink Tutu (Bob and Tim had lost theirs since they last had them on – don’t ask !). I am not sure how far the, “its ok its for charity” bit goes.

Now, I should mention the luck of the Irish at this point – I have to admit I have been stalking Paddy for some time, in order to nail him down for a return to Oaks Blokes. He was signed up for today, he knew it was going to be painful – then with the heavy weather on Friday night he was convinced that he was facing a perfect storm. So this mornings sunshine and warm weather and the gentle running partner of Andy, did not seem to be a fair response for failing to attend for the past 10ish weeks !

We all made it to ‘Up and Running’ for a photo shoot (oh no sorry Paddy and Andy were already on a short cut). After a run up Sevenoaks High Street, to remarkably little comment from the public. See photo…..

We got to knole Park and split into three groups – Ian had looped back and scooped up Paddy with the easy runners. I made the offer to the main group to run tempo session in prep for the Brighton 10k, that split them down the lines of who drank too much wine last night -= so half the group went off to find some mud with Duncan. My group enviously glanced up the hill to the disappearing Duncan group as I explained how painful the session was likely to be.

On our first lap Greg decided to run through a large puddle (see we are tougher than we look in the picture) . Now some of you might think this unnecessary and a bit daft but I expect it was the de-masculinating effect of the pink (not that he was wearing any himself). Sadly for him the puddle was not only large but deep causing him to complete one of those center forward penalty box dives into the muddy verge. Soaking wet, covered in mud with a twisted ankle, I felt obliged to give him my spare top I was wearing – it was pink ! So rather than toughening his image it rather backfired….

Disclaimer Clause

Please note: No names have been changed in the writing of this report in order to expose those concerned and bring some ribbing to those concerned.