Edinburgh Half Marathon and a PB!

Yesterday (31st May) I ran the Edinburgh Half Marathon.

If you spend any time at all running around Edinburgh, you will see on almost every occasion, someone wearing the ubiquitous, blue, Edinburgh Marathon Festival (EMF) t-shirt.  Despite having ran for 359 consecutive days now, having ran roads, trails, hills, and cross-country, a small part of me felt like I wasn't a "real" Edinburgh runner because I didn't own one of those t-shirts!  Well now I am complete.  

BEHOLD!!!

I ran a long way to (finally) get this t-shirt.

Here is the story of how I come to own this coveted, polyester, vestment. 

The race started at 8am which unfortunately meant that I had to get up at 5:30am on a Sunday morning to make sure I had something to eat but not too soon before getting underway.  Porridge eaten, I woke Kata at 6:45 to get me on the start line for 7:30.  It was raining.  The forecast for race-day was awful but in the end it was relatively good conditions for running long distance with a light breeze and some light rain.  Amazingly we bumped into Rachel at the bag drop area.  I know that 8772 runners finished the race, no doubt a few more started, so it was a happy coincidence that we met.  The rain by this point was starting to get quite heavy.  

Coincidence

This was a huge event with two starting points on London Road and Regents Road.  Each road had from what I could see 4 starting pens that you were assigned according to your predicted finish time.  Even starting where I was quite near the front, once the dramatic countdown had finished and the starting pistol had fired to a great cheer, there was an anti-climatic pause of about a minute or so before we slowly started moving towards the starting line.  Once over the line and breaking into a run, it was still quite busy and a lot of the runners around me didn't seem to be in a particular hurry so I had to do a bit of weaving and dodging to get ahead and due to sheer number of runners, this continued all the way until we left Holyrood Park.  At Holyrood Park I was overtaken by a runner in Lederhosen but I didn't let the indignity ruin my race and pushed on.  Some poor people were already by this stage stopping to duck into the first available portable toilets. 

Brown!  Like my vest.  You see?  Brown.  

My pace was good at first.  I was aiming for 4:15 per kilometre and the first one was completed in 4:17 despite all the dodging and weaving.  Not bad.  The next two were completed in consistent 4:17 and 4:18 before I ran a 4:20 and panicked a bit.  Speeding up meant I ran 4:06 the next time.  Oops.  As you can see from the table below, I ran well for the first half of the race before falling off a cliff.  I actually completed the first 10km in 42:51 which considering my PB for a 10km race is 42:30 is either very good going, or very bad pacing.  Probably the latter - I should have ran the first 10km in about 45 minutes.  

Tells it's own story

  

We reached Portobello at about the 5 mile mark and I was delighted see that the planned rendezvous with Kata had worked out.  There she was shouting encouragement and taking photos.  Here is one of the photos. 

Race face 

Leaving Portobello promenade and Kata, I realised that it had stopped raining.  I don't know WHEN it had stopped but it certainly wasn't raining now.  At the 6 mile marker I took my energy gel.  We were still in Portobello at this point and we ran by a house where the residents were playing Chariots of Fire at full blast from speakers set up in their garden.  This made me smile and I also have to admit made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.  It felt like it made me run faster too but the statistics don't back this up!  Later on, after we finished the race, it was pointed out to me that it was about 8:45 on Sunday morning when we ran by this house and his neighbours couldn't have been too pleased.  Easy to forget what time it is when you have been up for 3 hours and are half way through a half-marathon.  

Nailed it!

The Musselburgh section was hard.  My legs were very heavy by this point and hope of a PB was slipping away.  This is considered to be a fast course so I'd have been disappointed had I not managed a PB.  My splits were not good but I was running as fast as I could.  The course is very flat but there is a long gradual uphill in Musselburgh that leads to the point where you turn and run the just over 2 miles back into the town and the finish line.  It was gruelling but the  thought that after the turn I would be running back down this hill kept me going.  Nearing the top of the hill and the turn back to Musselburgh, coming the other way back towards me was Lederhosen guy that had overtaken me back in Holyrood Park!  Fair play.  Also coming back towards me was Rachel who was having an amazing run and finished 4th woman.  I did think to myself at one point that it had seemed like quite a long time since she passed and I still hadn't reached the turn - what kind of time was she running?! I also saw Patryk from HBT at the sharp end and when I saw him he was in 2nd place tucked tactically in behind the runner in 1st (he finished an amazing 3rd). 

Turning onto the home straight a glance at my watch told me that a PB was still possible.  I had 40 seconds to reach the finish line.  I ran as fast as my leaden legs would carry me and another glance told me that with 20 seconds to go I was probably going to make it...just.  I finished 424th out of 8772 in a time of 1:32:45. A PB of 3 seconds after running for an hour and half?!  Ridiculous, but I'll take it.  

Accept

Great race and a great event.  Straight afterwards the organisers were trying to sell "early bird" entry to next year's race to all the finishers.  It was probably the wrong time to ask, but having had a night's sleep and now that the aching and chaffing has eased a bit, I am definitely up for this again.  With better preparation and who knows, maybe some training, a sub 90 minute half-marathon is very achievable. 

I was shattered afterwards.  I went home to sleep.  I was aching and had friction burns in places you don't want friction burns (which is anywhere I suppose).  I don't know why I was so chaffed because I didn't wear anything that I hadn't worn a hundred times before.  Having to get up at 5am is cruel and unusual and I'm afraid I wasn't up to much for the rest of Sunday (although we did go to watch Mad Max at the cinema). 

Big thanks to the marshals for standing in the rain to make sure we had enough, erm...water, and thanks as well as apologies to the residents of Portobello for the music.  Thanks especially to Kata for getting up at ridiculous o'clock on a Sunday to drive me to the start and then drive to Musselburgh to pick me up and take my broken body home for which it is very grateful. 

I am also grateful to finally have my EMF t-shirt. 

End of May

End of May and the end of the last full month of Most Runningist Year Ever.  Wow!

Count:	33 Activities
Distance:	210.28 km
Time:	18:43:56 h:m:s
Calories:	17,710 C
Avg Time:	34:04 h:m:s
Avg Distance:	6.37 km
Avg Speed:	11.2 km/h
Avg HR:	148 bpm
Max HR:	167 bpm

There will be a full 365 day report next weekend - if I can avoid serious injury for another 5 days. 

HBT GP

Remember the HBT Grand Prix where club members were awarded points for running races and drinking beer?  I finished 3rd.

Well...joint third.

I'm glad it's over.  I spent a fortune driving to races (mostly in Fife) midweek, and my race vest stank because I had no time between races to wash it. 

Kinnoull Hill Race

What is it with all the hill races?!

On Thursday 21^st May I ran my latest, Kinnoull Hill Race in Perth.  It was an off the cuff decision made because Brian asked me if I fancied it.  I had nothing else planned for Thursday evening so why not?

The discussion in the lead up to the race was what was the most appropriate footwear?  Road, trail, or fell shoes?  Conventional wisdom for a hill raise would be fell shoes, but the consensus amongst those that had taken part in this race before was that road shoes were best, so I lined up at the start (on a road) in my road shoes.  The majority of the race was on trail and off road, and next time I run this race I will be wearing my trail shoes.  You could even at one point (running steeply downhill on grass) have made an argument for fell shoes, but in the end road shoes were OK.

The race ascended up Kinnoull Hill sharply and quickly.  I had no time to catch my breath or get into my rhythm before I was dragging myself up the side of a 600ft (183m) hill.  I suppose that is a prominent characteristic of hill races.  It was over relatively quickly though which I was glad about because I was struggling.  It wasn’t as hard as Ben Lomond by any stretch of the imagination and I managed to run up pretty much the whole way, only power walking on two occasions when the  path was narrow and I couldn’t get past the slower runner in front of me.  Reaching the top the views were fantastic.  I had seen the tower at the top of this cliff face many times before from the road and wondered about it.  It was fascinating to be finally  so close to it – it’s more ruined than it looks like from the bottom!

Actually quite ruined - spectacular view though

The race distance was about 6.5km and the summit was at 2km so it was mostly a winding and undulating downhill after the short sharp climb.    I am terrible at running downhill and so I made a conscious effort to push on as hard as I could and to at least not LOSE any time on the descent.  I did OK, I don’t expect to be suddenly brilliant at it, so it’s progress in the right direction.  I was getting into my rhythm and even at the short uphill parts of the descent (if you know what I mean) I was passing more people than were passing me.  I nearly ran right into the back of a girl from Central AC who I had been chasing for a while and who then stopped dead right in front of me.  I suppose she was OK and just tired, it was a slight uphill section and I didn’t hang around to check.  

The race was intense and I was focussed on pushing forward throughout.  Notable events included the wee dog that ran along beside me for a bit, waiting for me to catch up, then running off again.  If I had four legs I’d be awesome at hill running too!  I nearly lost my number at one point but managed to grab it before it fell off completely and I crossed the line holding it in my hand.  A final sharp decent, a sharp right hand turn, and I crossed the line to finish one of the rare races when I felt that I literally did the best I could and couldn’t have ran any faster.   

Beautiful hill race in the centre of Perth

  

Results are in and I finished in 34:59, 79^th out of 182.  

The post race tea and cakes were the best I have ever seen.    At the bargain race entry price of £2 we definitely had our money’s worth out of one of the best marshalled, nicest races, with the best hospitality.  I can’t recommend this race enough and it will hopefully become a highlight of my racing calendar for years to come.  The organisers should go visit XXX and show them how to mark out a race route using tape hanging from trees!  

Thanks to Brian for driving us all there.  On the journey home Carrie mentioned that she liked Thursday races because it felt like the weekend had arrived early.  Nice.  Everyone was in a good mood after The Kinnoull Hill race.   

Parkrun - New 5km PB

I am blogging a bit out of sequence today - I still have to do a quick race report on The Kinnoull Hill Race that I ran on Thursday 21st May.  This report is of the new 5km PB that I recorded on Saturday 23rd May.

I decided that I would give Parkrun at Silverknowes a chance.  The weather was fantastic, and I am told that the wind forecast was 3mph which is effectively the same as 'no wind'.  Wind, and specifically the headwind on the home stretch is the curse of Silverknowes.  I ran Portobello Parkrun last week and it was busier than I had seen it before.  The number of runners combined with the number of corners means that a PB is not really possible here or else extremely unlikely.  That's not a criticism of the scenic, friendly, Portobello run in the shadow of Arthur's Seat, it's just a pretty obvious fact.

So anyway, given the weather I thought I would grab the opportunity of running again at  Silverknowes.

Beautiful view...

Ruined!

I ran out hoping for a PB rather than expecting one.  I don't feel like I am running as well at the moment as I was at the end of last Summer, but there has been the odd success to make me feel like good things are possible.  I completed the first 1km in 3:52 and I was exhausted.  The second was completed in 4:04 which made me kick on with renewed effort.  At the end of 4km my time was 16:15 so I felt like a PB was not going to happen.  I tried as hard as I could anyway and crossed the line in 20:05.  A PB of 2 seconds and a very fast final kilometre!  Very pleased.  Clearly this is a pace of 4:01 per kilometre (even I can do that mental arithmetic) so only just over 1 second per kilometre to knock off before I can record a sub 20 that will be my first step towards a sub 40 10km.

'Accept"

Funny - I was speaking with Brian after the race.  He told me that on the last 400m he was thinking that if Usain Bolt can run 100m in 10 seconds, surely he could run it in a time that would have met his target.  This is unbelievable because I was thinking the EXACT same thing.  With 400m to go I was thinking if Bolt can do it in 10 seconds, surely I can do each 100m in 20 seconds?!  Weird!

Great day, great conditions, great PB.

Remarkably consistent. 

The Black Rock 5

On Friday 15th May, I ran one of the most unique races ever - The Back Rock 5.

It's unique in that starts in the town of Kinghorn in Fife, and runs into the Firth of Forth (almost the North Sea), runs around a....black rock...and then back to Kinghorn.  The really confusing part is the '5'.  The race is 4.3 miles or almost 7km.  Go figure.

What have we just done?!

Fortunately the tide was out so no need to swap our trainers and shorts for flippers and a wetsuit, and the race looked more like this...

Phew!  Also, the famous Forth Rail Bridge in the background. 

The race was a lot of fun.  It was hilly, and the beach section was a slog.  A fun slog, but a slog.  The first time we had to run through the freezing sea water (see the above photo), there was trepedation and reluctance, but every time after that was no problem.  Once your feet are cold and wet, they can't really get any more cold and wet.  The town of Kinghorn was out to laugh at support us, and it was much appreciated.  It really felt like an event.  

The start was a bit chaotic.  It reminded me of the Grand National horse race.  Once the race organisers had herded the >1000 cats behind the start line in a narrow street, they pretty much grasped the opportunity and just raised the figurative starting tape.  I was quite near the front and didn't know we had started until the people in front of me started running off. 

It was uphill to the town centre, downhill onto the beach, around the rock, and then back again.  The rock was great and about as Scottish as it comes.  There was a piper standing on top, playing us a tune against the grey Scottish sky and grey Scottish sea.  I could hear him from about 1km away and it was brilliant.  After turning around the rock and heading back along the beach to Kinghorn, I thought I could hear above the splashing of feet and wail of the pipes, a wee small voice calling to me.  The wee voice went, "STEEEEEEEVE!  STEEEEEEEEEEEEVE!!!"  Slightly confused I lifted my head and looked around.  It was great to see Kata, our Hungarian guest for the week Roli, and Blonde Rachel shouting at me from the other side of the beach on their way out.  Here they are waving (not at me, I was about 200m away unfortunately)...

STEEEEEVE!!!!  KAAAAATA!!!! ROOOOOLI!   RAAAACHEL!

They are enjoying this way too much.  :-)

After a tough, short run up powdery sand to get off the beach, it was good to get some tarmac and some traction under my feet.  My relief was short lived however as the hardest and cruelest part of the race was still to come.  

The race finished about 400m further on from where it started.  I can only imagine that the purpose of this was to make us run up the side of a cliff face.  I exaggerate, but only a little.  Turning a sharp corner at the point where the race had started, I was faced with a very steep incline of about 100m.  I dragged myself up out, lungs empty, when I saw some of the HBT guys who had already finished cheering me on.  Shouts of "Go Steve!" etc were welcome and pushed me on to greater efforts, but what really helped was James Rogers (see Alloa Half Marathon update) yelling, "Behind you!" at me.  I panicked, broke into what qualified for a sprint by this stage, and as I neared the line glanced over my shoulder.  There was no one there!  Sneaky, but it worked.  The little white lie probably shaved 5 seconds off my time.  

Tide was well out but we still got wet.  I'll be finding sand everywhere for weeks.

Looks like some people are trying to avoid getting wet.  Futile.  

On the left hand rock in the crevice, you can just see the piper. 

Results are in and I finished in 32:24.  Not great but not bad - 235th out of 1025.  

Everyone who finished got a free beer.  Brilliant!  We all met in the pub afterwards and the sponsors who had been handing out the free beer had a tent outside and were now selling the beer for £2.50.  Awesome!  That's about half the price of a beer in some places in Edinburgh.  Great race, great beer, and I'm told the burgers from the outdoor barbeque were nice too.  Everyone who had taken part in this race before was very excited about it and now I know why.

2 Mile PB

On Wednesday 13^th May I recorded a new PB for the strange distance of 2 miles.  

The Self Transcendence series of races held over the Summer months in Edinburgh’s park, The Meadows tests runners on a weekly basis over distances of 1 mile, 2 miles, and 5km. On Wednesday it was 2 miles.  My previous PB was 12:42 set last September and I hoped to beat that time, even though I knew it would be difficult.  My 1 mile time from a  few weeks back of 6:13 made my suppose that my 2 mile time would be round about the 12:42 mark.  I wasn’t wrong!

A relatively small number of runners got underway to start two laps of The Meadows.  I was slowed at the first left hand turn due to congestion and the tightness of the turn.  After this one slight delay, I was flat out as fast as my legs would carry me for the rest of the way.  There were some familiar faces around about me that I used as motivation and targets to catch and overhaul.  I didn’t do either to anyone but the effort of doing so pushed me on.   As my watch ticked over to 12 minutes, I could see the finish but I knew it was going to be tight.  I pushed hard and powered away from the guy next to me who I could tell was racing me to the finish.  A glance at my watch told me I had 11 seconds to go before a PB was gone and I knew it was going to be REALLY tight.  As I crossed the line I heard the time keeper say, “12:40” and I actually shouted, “Yes!” out loud.  I was pleased, very pleased that the gut wrenching effort of the last 400m had paid off.  Every PB is a good PB.    

Kata, Roli, Me at The Meadows After Running 2 Miles

So I start the Self Transcendence series with a time slightly better than the time I finished on last year.  I’ll take that and I’ll chip away at it over the Summer.    

I'll Take The (Very) High Road on the Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

On Saturday 9^th May I raced up and down a Munro.  A Munro is a Scottish mountain over 3000ft (914m) high and the specific one that I raced on this weekend was Ben Lomond which is 3,196ft (974m) high.  Ben Lomond is the southernmost Munro and due to it’s handy proximity to Glasgow, I have walked up it twice before.  This was the first time I had ran up it though!

Hill running is to say the least, not really my thing (see Bog Trot and Dumyat reports for details).  I find running up (and down) hills to be difficult, tiring, and painful.  After I signed up for Ben Lomond I kind of forgot about it and had done no training what so ever.  The Bog Trot disaster put me off hill racing forever.  Then I ran another hill race during the week at Dumyat and that wasn’t too bad, so I decided that I’d give Ben Lomond a go.  If nothing else “Racing up a Munro” is quite a good thing to have on your Running CV.  

There weren't this many runners behind me at the end

Not even the following warnings could put me off.  This one from the SiEntries website…

• Kit checks will be made at registration : no kit = no number. You must have the following minimum kit with you at all times during the race: waterproof jacket with hood, waterproof overtrousers, hat, gloves, whistle. This is the minimum kit requirement for this event, but you are responsible for carrying any additional items you consider necessary for your own protection given the conditions, or as the race organiser may dictate on the day. Failure to comply will mean automatic disqualification from the event. All of the above is for your own safety - hypothermia can be fatal.

Or this one from the Scottish Hill Racing website…

• A popular race on a popular hill. The biggest dangers are colliding with hill walkers and tripping on the stony descent. This race has a high casualty rate, with bloodied knees and several broken ankles in recent years. That said, it's a great race with distinct sections of forest trail (largely felled now), open hill, plateau, summit dome, and narrow summit ridge.

Minimum kit safely stored in my bumbag, I stood nervously in the grounds of Rowardennan Hotel.  Last year Kata and I had enjoyed a rest-stop and a beer in the sun here on our West Highland Way adventure and the weather on this occasion was very similar – blue skies and warm sun.  I had checked the weather forecast in advance and had come prepared for temperatures of zero Celsius on the hill.  Shockingly the weather forecast was wrong!  I was extremely nervous before getting underway.  Having walked up Ben Lomond a couple of times before, and taken my time in doing so, stopping a couple of times on the way up for sandwiches or to take in the view, I was aware that the prospect of pegging it up there in one go and as fast as possible should not be underestimated.  The race distance would be just over 12km, so that’s only 6km to the top, right? 

Pre-race selfie!

Still smiling

We got underway just outside the hotel and the start was quite fast.  The road was narrow and there was some jostling for position.  I took it slow and steady and turning up onto Ben Lomond, I passed a few runners, and got passed by a few myself.  The first section is in woodland and is steep and rocky before coming out of the woods and turning into a clear trail.   At 1.5km into the race, still on the rocky, steep section, a runner ahead of decided he’d had enough already and pulled over.  A club mate of his asked if he was OK, which he was, but said that he wasn’t going to manage it.  Fair enough.  If you are gong to give in, better to do it so close to the start.  Soon enough I would be envying that guy!  The uphill, trail section was relatively speaking the easiest part of the race.  After the trail section and shortly after passing through a  gate, the race deviates from the path and essentially took the runners right up the side of the hill in a direct route to the summit.  This was a very difficult climb.  On a couple of occasions I looked over my shoulder to be presented with not an awful lot of people behind me.  This was demoralising even though I knew I was running in a small field of mostly experienced hill runners.  Why would a casual runner attempt to run up a Munro?!  But still, it did nothing for my mental state.  As for my physical state?  Well my quads were burning and my glutes ached.  There wasn’t a lot of running going on and it was more of a power walk/forced march up the steep slope.  I managed occasional 500m trots where the terrain allowed.  At about 4.5km we reached the snow line which just made it more difficult as in places we had to lift our feet higher.  I don’t think I have ever ran a race where I didn’t at some point consider pulling a ‘DNF’, but I seriously considered it about 3 or 4 times on the way up Ben Lomond.  Only at 5km did I finally concede that I’d be as well just going to the top now.

There's snow on them there hills!

      

At the top it was really snowy.  We turned around the cairn marking the summit and began the descent.  It had taken me 1hr 15mins to get to the top.  I had secretly been aiming for 1hr 45misn to complete the race and I realised that this was not going to happen.  The descent was hard and painful.  It was a steep decent down bouncy and boggy heather covered hills, before getting back to the trail section.  The downhill trail section was the worst.  It was exhausting to be constantly on the lookout for rocks or anything else that could break your ankle (see siEntries warning) and I went over on my ankle or stumbled countless times.  It was easier to un on the thin muddy section that separated the trail from the heather, but this wasn’t always possible.  At least the downhill was faster!  With about 1km to go I saw Kata who had been on the hill cheering us on.  I couldn’t even manage a smile I was so mentally drained. 

Not smiling anymore!  Good photos by Kata though. 

Finally reaching the bottom of the hill, I couldn’t see the finish line.  It wasn’t where we had started and I couldn’t see it.   I nearly gave in again at this point – it was one more mental and physical challenge that I could manage.  Almost.  I did run across the line and finished in 1:54:15secs.  I later discovered this was 139^th out of 166 and second last in my category.  This is obviously not a brilliant finishing position, but I think it was a strong field and I did get up and down Ben Lomond in under 2 hours which I suspect time wise puts me in the top 2% of people that have ever climbed Ben Lomond!  

Much needed (and bonus point) beer in Balmaha

H.B.T.!!!

Unfortunately I had zero opportunity to take in what must have been spectacular views on a glorious day to be on Ben Lomond.  It was a really tough race but I am glad I did it.  If it was easy then everyone would do it.  Thanks to the marshals for standing on the hill and walking to the top to provide us runners with water when we got there – much appreciated!  Thanks to everyone who shouted “HBT” at me on my way up – this included marshals and a couple of walkers!  I *think* I had fun after all, and I *think* I might do it again.

Post-race selfie!

Dumyat Hill Race

On Wednesday 6^th May I ran in the Dumyat Hill Race.  Dumyat (pronounced ‘dum-aye-it) is a hill in the Ochil range and is 418m high.  418m is relatively small as hills go, but it’s still tough to run up and as I type I can still feel every one of those 418m in my legs!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumyat

The race started in the grounds of the University of Stirling campus and after 600m of running on generally flat ground and on tarmac, we squeezed through a doorway in the campus perimeter wall and began out ascent through woodland.  I had been warned about the bottle neck at the door so I made sure that I made a fast start to reach it before the big rush.  The woodland section of the climb was the toughest and steepest.  I had in my mind that although the distance of the race was 8km, it was “only” 4km uphill so I would push hard for that short distance as the second half would be a lot easier.  It didn’t really work out that way as the ascent was possibly the hardest (and definitely slowest) 4km of my life.  

A flat section near the top 

I had started the race standing next to my club mate Sinead.  I knew that she was a good runner and I decided that if I could keep pace with her throughout then I’d be doing really well.  Sinead passed me at about the 1km mark and was always within about 100m of me all the way to the top so remained a good target to chase.  When I was about 100m from the top, she passed me on her way down and I never saw her again!  But like Sinead, I am getting ahead of myself…

The conditions were almost perfect.  No wind (at the bottom), and cool but not cold.  I felt reasonably fit and rested after a break from my exertions of racing twice a day last week, and I was in a good frame of mind for the run.  Not having any expectations or targets in terms of time, I decided just to run and enjoy it as much as I could.  I had looked at the previous years results and concluded that a time under an hour would be acceptable, and secretly I was aiming for 50 minutes.  During the steep wooded section, hands and sometimes fingernails were needed to get up the terrain.  In one particularly memorable incident I went to grab a willowy branch at the same time as a girl behind me, I narrowly reached it first and consequently pulled it out of her reach!  She fell forwards and slipped back down the hill.  I felt pretty bad about this even although it wasn’t my fault, and a quick check over my shoulder showed that she was back on her feet.  I asked after her, she said she was fine, so I kept going.   

A photo from a previous year 

Coming out of the woods at about the 2km mark, a marshal shouted encouragement and told us that the hardest work was over.  I hoped that this was true and it concurred with what Rachel and her husband Hector had told me before the race, so I was suitably encouraged.  The sweat by this stage was pouring off my forehead.  Not dripping – pouring.  Exhaling blew a spray of sweat out in front of me and I reiterate – this was at 2km.  I slogged up the hill as fast as my legs and lungs would carry me, but I wasn’t fast and at the 3.5km mark I was starting to get worried that I hadn’t actually seen anyone coming back down yet.  Where exactly was the top?!  No sooner had I had this thought but who should appear bounding downhill with the speed and agility of goat on a mountain bike, but the aforementioned Hector.  He was soon followed by a crowd of similarly talented runners.  I took encouragement from this and powered on with the speed and agility of an elephant on a space-hopper.  

Finally reaching the top, I rounded the beacon marking the halfway point of the race, and began my descent.  Almost immediately I went over on my ankle at a rocky section and thought to myself that at about 30 days from he end of “The Most Runningist Year Ever”, a twisted ankle (or worse) wasn’t worth the risk.  I carefully picked my route down, being overtaken by dozens of fearless and/or reckless runners.  Not far from the top there is a bog with a fence in the middle.  I remembered the bog from my way up about 10 minutes ago and after a quick deliberation of the best way to negotiate it, I decided that the answer was, “straight through the middle” and “quickly”.  Unfortunately you are slowed by the fence in the middle, giving adequate time to get totally soaked, and totally filthy (my left foot squelched all the way down).  I spoke with another of my club mates at the bottom (Jill) who told me that she had got stuck in the bog up to the top of her leg and had to be pulled out by a kindly stranger (she still beat me by 5 minutes).  

Some highlights of the descent;

·         Remember the section on the way up where I had to pull myself up using tree branches and nearly sent a fellow runner falling to her death?  Try going back down it and staying upright.  Reaching the top of this downhill section was like running at pace towards a cliff face – there was some comedy arm wind-milling.  Someone slid past me, upright, in a seemingly controlled fashion, as if on skis.  They might have been on skis, they were going too fast for me to tell. 

·         A style over a fence – someone ahead of me stood on it, sipped, and summersaulted over the fence.  He got up and kept running.  

·         The steep tarmac stretch near the end.  I had no confidence of my grip on the tarmac in my big studs covered in slippy, thick mud.  I must have looked quite camp as I pranced down that section very slowly.  

·         Slight but long uphill  just before the hole in the wall going back into the campus.  Cruel and gruelling.  Someone in front of me gave up and started walking.

I finished in 52:42.  171^st out of 292.  Well under an hour but outside my made up, secret target of 50 minutes.  There is plenty of scope to make up two minutes if I practised hill running, specifically downhill running.  The question is whether I want to or not.  Well done to Hector and Rachel who completed a Haines double as husband and wife took first place in the men’s and women’s races.  Thanks also to them for giving me a lift to the race and back, and for giving me an oat bar for dinner from their stash in the car.    

Rachel and Hector with Dumyat Hill in the background.  I was going to caption this photo, "Smug B*st*rds"...

But they gave me a lift to the race and this oat bar.

Here’s the official race report….

http://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2015/05/universityhillraceprovidesatoughexamination/

End of April

Decent month.  I wasn't going to break the 200km barrier for April until the last few days of running twice a day!

Count:	35 Activities
Distance:	212.90 km
Time:	17:41:29 h:m:s
Calories:	17,822 C
Avg Time:	30:20 h:m:s
Avg Distance:	6.08 km
Avg Speed:	12.0 km/h
Avg HR:	143 bpm
Max HR:	158 bpm