Well done ibby! Fab race. And sonic - again
Back from this morning?s adventures feeling a rosy warm glow (or is that windswept cheeks)! I look a bit like this 
.
So picked up friend at 9am after porridge at 7:30 as planned, after a dreadful night?s sleep due to the howling wind and rain. At about 1 am I thought ?no chance?. But by the time I got up the rain had stopped even though it was still mightily windy. Headed off to Stirling ? half the sky was dark grey ? half bright sunshine and we got to the campus at Stirling Uni in plenty of time. Parked and headed down to pick up our antlers, noses and T-Shirts ? it was sooo chilly that most of us put our T Shirts on, on top of our other gear.
T?was very hard deciding what to wear (like ibby) ? I settled on a long sleeve technical T and then a warmer top layer and Rudolph T shirt ? part of the course I was too hot, part I was cold. We decided not to wear antlers to run in as they would impact our aerodynamism (cough, cough), but in all likely hood they would have blown off anyway. Quick trip for a wee ? very different from the huge queues for porta -loos in mass participation races ? short queue for 2 proper indoor toilets ? much more civilised.
I don?t normally take part on the warm ups for this sort of thing but did today ? definitely needed it ? by the end of the warm up I could just about feel my fingers. We set off to the start with warnings of ?watch out, it?s boggy out there? ? there were about 250 max in the 10k (then a smaller field about 75 ish in the 5K which started an hour later which my friend was running in).
Set off feeling good but as soon as we rounded the corner of the playing field realised just how boggy it was ? all thoughts of a PB went away and I decided that getting round without falling over and with both shoes was going to be my new goal.
I sort of had an idea of what the route was like as I had done the route as part of the R4L over the summer. The first 1k was pretty much undulating on a pebbly path round a lake and I had the chance to look up and remind myself what a glorious setting it was. The rain was well away now and it was glorious sunshine and the wind seemed (seemed mind you!) to have died down. I knew that there was a hill at about 1.5k and today it was v.v. tricky ? at this point the route went off the track and the next about 2K were run on the grass/mud/in the water! The hill was very slippy so I slowed right down and contemplated buying trail shoes on my next trip to the running shop. The top of the hill was not much better ? at one point I had to trot along and hold on to the wire fence to avoid slipping over.
We then went on a wee jaunt round a loop that was only there for the first lap before joining the 5k route again - but this meant going through the bog of despair! I just about managed to keep both my shoes but I saw at least two coming off and lots of shouts or ?eurgh? and ?yuk? out of the bog and onto the path with soggy, soggy feet.
The rest of the first lap was on the pebbly path again, glorious view but the wind came back with a vengeance and I had renewed admiration for rhet on her ?infinite half marathon of indefinite duration? ? I guess your conditions were much worse than that but, boy I found it hard! Also for Hat who I am sure trains in much tougher conditions most of the time. Down a bit of a hill, up another one into a wee bit of shelter and round for lap 2 and for the next layer of mud. Same again but this time the hill was twice as muddy ? as it had taken a real battering ? the 5kers must have found it really squelchey.
We didn?t go through the bog of despair on lap 2 (thank god) but did go round a very muddy gate that required a technique of sliding feet whilst holding on to the gate post. I actually really enjoyed lap 2 ? has really whetted my appetite for more trails and cross country ? and got covered in even more mud. Headed back towards the sports field for the final lap of the track and heard ?oh look, there?s squix, go squix? ? it was one of my new running club folk ? I?ve only been twice so it was great to be recognised. Round the final bit of the track (springy) through a big puddle and over the line.
Time on the Garmin was 54:59 which was great for a 10k but distance on the Garmin was 5.4miles so quite a bit short - but I reckon it makes up for the two ?Great Runs? that I have done this year that I measured loads over the 10k and 10 mile marks. Then off to change my soggy socks and muddy tights and back in time to see friend finish her 5K in a brilliant time. Coffee and mince pie at the end too. Then off for lunch, home, DD loved the antlers so I was gald I hadn?t lost them and it was dark by the time I got out of the bath.
So thoughts on todays run:
- I like smaller events, less toilet queues, more friendly
- I want to run more cross country and trails
- I will buy a pair of trail shoes if I am going to do more (any recommendations?)
- It?s not worth dancing round the puddles when your feet are already wet.