. . ice, ice, baby . .

Yesterday morning was my final race of the year, the Andy Reading 10k, over the other side of Bicester in a village called Chesterton . .

As soon as I stepped out of the car I realised it was slippery, there'd been a hard frost earlier, and guessed the race might be in doubt . .

And as the number of runners increased and race time of 10.30 approached the decision was taken to delay the start by half an hour, hoping it would give the sun the chance to get above some of the taller trees and complete the melting process on the icy roads . .

This proved to be a good plan, as the race took place without any obvious slippery incidents, and 443 runners, just 2 less than last year, completed the event . .

I had a great time taking photographs, first at the start, and then soon after the 2k mark after the runners had completed a loop of Chesterton, and finally at about 9k, when the runners crossed the M40 for the final time. Here I decided to lie down and get a slightly different view on the world, which seemed to work well, apart from the stiff neck I had when I stood up once again after being prone for 32 minutes . .

And after the race, instead of dashing home as I often do to start processing the photos, it was nice to spend an hour or so in the Red Cow at Chesterton in the company of some good friends and roast dinners . .