So I ran the Marathon du Médoc yesterday for the second year. it was the 30th anniversary of the race, so even more than usual there was a party atmosphere. There were also more runners – over 10 000.

It was a hot sunny day. Great for the vines, which need just another week of this weather for 2014 to be a very interesting vintage, even after the coolest August for 50 years. But the heat made running hard, even though it made for a visually spectacular scene.

I ran the first half with Christian Seely, who is great company. He then stopped and I carried on alone. I stopped for wine several times, and it was very enjoyable.

How did I do? Unlike last year, which was painful, this year I had no pain. I came 2741 out of 10196 runners, which is better than last year. I was slow, but it was very warm and there were lots of wine stops, and congestion at the start cost around 25 minutes. It was tremendous fun. I was 808 out of 2380 in my age group – my time was (cringe) 5.27 – I was very lazy because I had lots left in my tank at the end and sprinted the last stretch! Then I had a 20 minute walk back to Pichon, where we had lunch with wine, port and Sauternes, which was most splendid. A short film is posted below these pictures.

And a short film: