This was the shortest FKT local to my house (in a village not far from Bedford) and I thought it was a great way to get motivated for a hard effort on a nice local route. I set out from just inside the west car park at Ampthill park, as per the GPS route, and settled into a decent rhythm. I had taken on some fuel (choccy bar, redbull and some hydration mix) before the run and knew it was short enough not to need more fuel whilst on the course.
Not far into the run in the woods near Millbrook I had to deviate from the provided GPS file as the path through the woods was not there anymore, it was completely covered in bracken and no signage so I stuck to the main path which met back up with the route shortly after, hopefully this is acceptable.
The run went great, I knew as the kilometres ticked over and I got my splits on my watch that I was on target for a decent time and had great fun ticking away the miles and seeing some wonderful new trails.
The only other slight deviation I had to take was coming off the road into the Cooper's hill memorial right near the end of the route. The GPS file started taking me into someone's front garden! So I swiftly turned around and went back onto the road and went in via the signposted footpath.
Was pleased with my time, it was very in line with my target. More importantly I got to see some new trails. The roads on the route were very quiet too, what a joy to do.