Despite not running a hill since the summer I convinced myself that I'd put in a decent time for The Pentland Skyline fell race in Edinburgh...truth is I had my bottom smacked and handed to me on a plate for being so dumb...
The day was cool and very breezy. Not the best conditions but very runable. I set off well and felt in control and secretly thought I'd get in under 4 hours...no bother. Well...pretty soon it was clear that I was in trouble: my slow but sure pace quickly had me in the last 20 or so out of 180...and I was being dropped more as the race progressed.
About a third into the race, having been dropped, I took a wrong turn which dropped me a load of height - when I realised my error I turned back and made my way back up the bloody hill again. I think I added about half a mile but under the circumstances I could have done without it!
When I reached the next checkpoint I found that there was only one behind me and she was going to be pulled as she was over the cut-off; as it stood the sweeper was 500m ahead of me. If I didn't catch him before the next check-point I'd be for an early bath. I desparately didn't want that so I dug in and got on his shoulder, I got some food and fluid inside me and waited for a miracle. Quite quickly, I recovered after my efforts and convinced the crew that I'd be fine - there was still some 8 miles to go but I was determined to see it out.
I could see two pairs of runners ahead of me by about 500m and thought about targeting them. It proved much harder that I imagined; they had no desire to surrender their position to me. I soon resigned myself to the idea of being last. It didn't take long to get over myself and I decided to use it as an exercise in seeing out a difficult job. I never intended not finishing but it was important for me to continue 'in the right frame of mind'. We all have our challenges. For some it's about getting once around the park without stopping, for others it's about keeping it going for 6, 12 or 24 hours. For me, today, my challenge was to keep moving with purpose, never to let up and hold my head high as I passed the finish line.
A word here for the marshals: I owe them all no small debt of gratitude for having waited in the blustery hills for me to selfishly continue. I thank them for their encouragement, good will and commitment to the sport.
After a decent descent I managed to pull in the last pair of runners...I got on their shoulder, passed the time of day and then was overcome by nausea. Again, I lost them as they pushed up hill after hill. I estimated their 'lead' to have been 3 minutes and growing as we approached the last two climbs. After being with them it made it hard to swallow but I'd given my all (mostly) and looked forward once more to picking up the wooden spoon - if there was one! Clearing the last hill I was surprised to see the two guys less than 30 seconds ahead - something must have happened to derail one or both of them; hey ho, this IS a race after all...once I checked they were ok I pushed on with something of a bluffed energy in the hope they wouldn't come back for more; I needn't have worried. I was to find later that one had pulled a muscle in his groin.
So, after keeping the sweepers company for much of the race, feeling like a tide was coming in behind and about to swamp me, I dropped down the last slope back into Edinburgh dry ski slope and on through to the finishing funnel. Not elegant, not too pleasing but it's done and you can't take that away from me :)
My final time was a bit over 5:10... too long to be out on them there hills.
