Rhayader 'round the lakes' 20 mile race

Had no intention of racing the Rhayader 20 mile race on Saturday: just wanted to enjoy it, to finish in comfort, and achieved that nicely. It's a great event, leaving the town (in constant drizzle and low cloud) to climb up to 500m at the summit of Penrhiw-wen. But the climb is fairly gentle, if rather long. Then tremendous running, initially in mist, down to the Craig Goch reservoir with wild, far-reaching views. Then down to Penygarreg, the next lake, where I suffered from a stomach upset - my bete noir - which lost me five minutes as I searched for a quiet spot in the woods. Felt fine afterwards, and picked up places continually around Carreg ddu and Caban coch to the steep hill at mile 19. Kept it going to finish in Rhayader in 2:33:39 for 74th place, from 322. Lost at least 5 mins and never really felt I was pushing the pace, so quite pleased. Stayed the night at Steve and Jenny's in Llanwrthwl, and had a nice walk along the flooded Wye next morning. On Friday night, I joined the Colomendy run again, but just jogged along the leat in preparation for Rhayader. Ran for eight continuous days up to Rhayader, which is also pleasing.