Race result hereFollowing on from the Hellrunner I was expecting this race to be a little less crazy, and at 12km a bit shorter and easier. Little did I know that it would turn out to be possibly the hardest running race I can remember doing.
We started at the top of a hill field on a very frosty Sunday morning with quite a lot of ice on the paths. Would have preferred a single loop, but discovered at the start that we would be doing two laps.
The 'Pudding' is a fast runner in fancy dress. He sets off with a two minute head start and whoever is first to catch him gets £100. I had no ambitions on this score - all I wanted was to do well amongst the other members of Evolution triathlon club - we had about nine or ten people entered.
From the start we hurtled down a steep hill which just kept on going. It wasn't easy to slow down at all, and about four minutes later I found myself in about 7th place at the bottom of a steep incline.I've often thought I'd like to try a race this way - start fast and try and hang on to a good position. I'm more of a slow burner, gradually getting warmed up and usually doing a bit better near the end. That strategy however will seldom win any races. So by accident nearly, this was my chance to try to lead from the beginning.
I survived the first hill, I barely survived the rest of the course. There was a short run on the flat past some grazing ponies, and then we were running fast downhill again. The next hill I don't think I managed to run all the way up. After that, it only got worse.
I was ahead of everyone in the club except Christophe, who looked unassailable up ahead. But as we finished the last lap, staggering up through the long grass to the half way mark, my left calf gave way, and something happened to Christophe as well, and we crossed the line together. Some mutual support and we were off again.
Knowing what was in store and being sore and tired made the second lap so much more difficult. I was now limping and hoping my calf wouldn't completely give up on me, and walking more and more up the hills. Christophe pulled away again and I overtook another runner, and I knew I was still doing well in the placings.
Then Christophe stopped - something was too painful to continue running. I had less than 10-15 minutes to go to the end and hating every second kept on going. I kept thinking I was going to get caught by a group of runners who had been stalking me about 1 minute behind, being most scared when walking up the steep hills. They must have been walking as well as they were still a manageable distance behind as I rounded the corner and looked up the hill towards the finish line. I think I could have run if I'd had to, but thankfully I'd seen nobody ahead for ages so no point chasing, and there was enough of a gap behind me that a walk/jog strategy got me to the line without losing my place.
In the end it turned out I'd been racing those people behind me for first place in the veteran's race. And I had actually won! I came 4th overall as well making this the best race of my recent career. I think I last won a race when I was about 15 years old.
My time was 01:10:15. A normal 10K should take me about 42 minutes, so you can see how much harder this course was. The people ahead of me were a long way in front: around nine minutes to 3rd place, and another seven minutes to 1st. I don't know how they did that.
I had some hot custard at the end (I don't like Christmas pudding) which was a nice touch. Then after my presentation (I won the chance to come back and do another race on this insane course) we all went to the pub for a well deserved slap up lunch!
