Run > Race

Stood on the start line my levels of anxiety rose. Scanning the crowd there seemed few women in this race & I was starting to wonder what I was doing here, should I have gone for the earlier start? My first race in new club colurs, Celia Mills sought me out & wished me well. No turning back I would just have to give it my best shot. Took me a couple of miles to get into it, mainly do to my head I think and I chose to pace myself in the knowledge that I would have three big climbs to come. With what felt like a close cut off at Minton Batch, I wasnt sure i'd make it. Two or three miles in I started to push a little harder & having hit the c/p with 10mins to spare the race really began. Digging in deep on the climbs and going for it on the downs I started to catch & pass runners who had set off too fast. With some fanatastic encouragment from Richard (depite my expletives he was a star), the help of a couple of gels, & my confidence growing, I pushed myself hard & ascended at a decent speed. Two climbs done, a fast descent through the mud off Barristers Plain, and we were down in Ashes Hollow with just one climb to go.

Off we set up Yearlet, & Richard pointed out that we could make sub-3 hrs, depending on "if i wanted it?". This was like red rag to a bull, & I picked up the pace, sod, he new how I would react!! We summited Yearlet then really went for it on the steep direct descent into the valley, kept my legs moving on that last little buggar of a climb then a plunged down the slope to the end and through the finish line. Bloody marvelous day