Its been a fortnight of exertion. Sometimes the best way to get fit is just to race. They say 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. I don't know who 'they' are (someone said Nietzsche), and I am certain that what doesn't kill you could still cause appreciable damage. I never regarded it as a truism, but never had the energy or mental capacity to challenge the ditty. 'Misery loves Company'..there's another one. Anyway, it was, of course, the Black Rock 5 at Kinghorn which was attended by 1200 runners in their plummage and old trainers. Great fun and very wet this year. I had my adidas long-shorts on and they clung to me as they became wet. This had me looking down more than once to check I was still actually wearing the shorts.
Speedy got some poundage for 2nd place, but nothing for moi, other than sand in my pants and a half an hour wait and 30 bangers at the fish in chip shop. You can't help your chin falling when the guy in front of you orders 14 fish suppers. They did famous business at the chipper. A couple of pints later and I fell into the tent.
Saturday arrived and it warmed up as we took Marg and Ant to the Lochore parkrun in the morning and dined famously at the park cafe on sausage rolls and hot drinks. It's a great venue for outdoor sports.
Afterwards we drove to Melrose for the Eildon 3 Hills Race. I was nut-bushed after a disturbed sleep the night before and found myself a park bench for half an hours kip in the sun. There was a good turnout at the Gala Harriers event and after getting counted into the pen we were sent on our way. I wanted to stay close to Keith Murray of Teviotdale, but as we ascended I was baulked on the narrow heather track by a group of Saltwell Harriers who had come over the border in their red and white strips for some sun and sarsaparilla.
At the top of the first hill it was all go and I passed 4 pretty quickly on the gravel toward the 2nd hill which is only a wee one. I pushed on, unhindered, to the third hill and descended on the main path passing a Gala blokey and Keswick lady and began catching the Teviotdale runner whom I spied ahead. However, the gap was still around 15 seconds and I made little inroads. He told me later he was chasing Carnethys Gilmore who was a little way ahead of him and won the M60. Speedy won her race after a crisp performance and collected more poundage and a trophy that needs a good clean. The recce last month deffo helped.
This weekend was a local parkrun on the Saturday where my time came down again and is, at last, beginning to look respectable. The Sunday came and there was only Me and Mrs Mac making our way up to the Benarty Trail Race, a Brian Cruickshank production at Lochore (again!). Speedy was down with the lurgy and Ant was doing the lemsips.
With a field of around 90, it was just under 5 miles and I held onto 5th place until the end of the 2nd mile. However as we dived into the woods and up yon big hill, I couldn't find the wattage, the heart rate was maxed out and a posse of 3 young pretenders cruised past. I made no impression on the curving descent but tracked them all the way back to the finish for 8th place and 1st m60. It was apparently the ARC Scottish trail race championships, so I got an extra medal and 2 cans of Tetleys, which made me feel like a Champion!
On the way back we peeled off for a cafe stop at Rankins in North Queensferry and afterwards it was back down the road. All and all full on busy.
There are two different types of people in the world. Those that want to know and those that want to believe and those that want to run...oh, that's three then. I think I'll leave it there.
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