My first race as a Courier , no pressure then ..

Just a 20 miles round Rhayader Dams
On start line the sun was blazing , conditions were pretty perfect. Only worry on my mind was the long long first hill, but I had a race plan, aim was around 5 minute k’s. Slightly faster than what I did in the Hereford marathon last year.
Race starts and off we go, about 400 runners …. race plan goes out of the window in the first mile, feeling good and adrenaline is flowing and running much faster than plan. Get to hill and see it rising in front for the next 4 miles ish, good pace going and still feeling strong. Get to top of hill, about 7 miles in and think ok now downhill and can recover a little but as we head down towards the dams there is a wicked wind blowing straight into the face making it much harder. This wind blasted us for pretty much the next 8 miles. Was hard but the views were stunning enough to take my mind off it, the wind was making waves on the lakes and all the people visiting the dams were cheering everyone on.
I was now running much faster than I planned, running with a couple of local club runners, but they visited a water station and I carried on as had water bladder on my back . So on my own and just a little doubt creeping in about how quick the pace was I got my head down and as we entered more of a wooded section the wind dropped and I just aimed on runners in front. Another hill appeared I was still flowing but calves were starting to tighten. I dropped down towards the visitor centre, lots of people cheering, and then the sign says 3 more miles. Into some country lanes, a few undulations and then back onto the main road back into Rhayader. 2 miles to go, everyone had said the last hill at 19 miles was tough, it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Last downhill into the town and the guy behind came up onto my shoulder but one last push into town centre and the finish at the market car park saw me drop him and get past the guy in front.Super tech t-shirt at the end.
I would do this race again. The course is tough but great scenery. What did I achieve as my first courier race, well I got a time of 2 hrs 31 mins, 60 th place (when you consider I averaged 5 min 10 second k’s on marathon in sept, I was aiming for 5 min k’s and I averaged 4 min 40 k’s lol, the last 21 km would have been a half marathon pb, and also during this time I did a 10 km section only a little slower than my 10 km best)
Still cannot believe time, seems being ‘red’ makes one much faster.

thanks
Paul