Wednesday - 28th day of rest!! Well, physio actually...thighs, hamstrings and lower back!!
Thursday - 29th 4.25 mile St Andrews beach "where chariots of fire was shot".
Any normal minded person usually stays well clear of sand, in fact there was about 5 meters of it on Tuesday's race and everyone sacrificed a few strides to run round it!! No hiding from it tonight!! A few different faces tonight, I think some just come for this one. Lost 2nd female last night on the hill (chucked it after half a mile) and tonight no leading female. The guys race is a bit of a non event as 2 guys from Portobello have been 1st and 2nd all the way. 22 people have dropped out or haven't participated in all races since the first one.
Actually really enjoyed this one, one end of the beach round a buoy and back. Wet sand was fine for running, but everyone decided to cut the corner and save a 10 meter wide turn. Bad idea! Lost the will to live on the soft stuff and got past by a few. Once back on wet sand I managed to pick up and finished a bit closer to some that had beaten me in previous races. Afterwards headed in to the sea with about 50 others, minus god knows what degrees, lovely!!
Friday 30th 2.25k TT
The BIG ONE... so I'm told. I mean, it's only a mile and a bit!! I did the vertical mile in 7 minutes something....can't be that bad! Apparently, Andrew Lemoncello holds the record at 9.52....he's only one of two that have broken 10 minutes.
So, off in 2's, 30 second intervals, completely random, not allowed to help your partner. They were right....absolute "HELL"...had to walk twice. There are definitely NO hills in EK!!
Great atmosphere, they do make it feel like a ski slope with all the locals at the top cheering and banging on pots with wooden spoons, cow bells and whistles. 14.36 for my efforts...and managed to beat some for the first time in 5 races! Might actually be improving.
Saturday 31st 5.6 Multi Terrain
The last one. I thought that it was going to be a bit of a wind down after 5 hard days. No chance, 5.6 mile including the last 4 miles of "The Devil's Burden" relay course. More hills!! A good mixture of tar, hills, woods, cabbage field finish!! Ran well considering the tired legs, but same for every one. 45.05 was my time. Just wanted to get finished and get started on the 100's of cakes waiting.
In summary
I finished 65 out of 158 starters, 3.32.54 to run a combined distance of 27.3 miles. 133 completed the full thing.
One of the best things that I have ever done. It's hard, takes a lot of commitment (I mean travelling as well as running) great mixture of events, distances etc...met some great people over the week and the organisers did really well too. Definitely do it again next year....and perhaps persuade a few others to take the plunge.
Pictures of all 6 races are in the following link (courtesy of RoadRunPics.com)
Thursday - 29th 4.25 mile St Andrews beach "where chariots of fire was shot".
Any normal minded person usually stays well clear of sand, in fact there was about 5 meters of it on Tuesday's race and everyone sacrificed a few strides to run round it!! No hiding from it tonight!! A few different faces tonight, I think some just come for this one. Lost 2nd female last night on the hill (chucked it after half a mile) and tonight no leading female. The guys race is a bit of a non event as 2 guys from Portobello have been 1st and 2nd all the way. 22 people have dropped out or haven't participated in all races since the first one.
Actually really enjoyed this one, one end of the beach round a buoy and back. Wet sand was fine for running, but everyone decided to cut the corner and save a 10 meter wide turn. Bad idea! Lost the will to live on the soft stuff and got past by a few. Once back on wet sand I managed to pick up and finished a bit closer to some that had beaten me in previous races. Afterwards headed in to the sea with about 50 others, minus god knows what degrees, lovely!!
Friday 30th 2.25k TT
The BIG ONE... so I'm told. I mean, it's only a mile and a bit!! I did the vertical mile in 7 minutes something....can't be that bad! Apparently, Andrew Lemoncello holds the record at 9.52....he's only one of two that have broken 10 minutes.
So, off in 2's, 30 second intervals, completely random, not allowed to help your partner. They were right....absolute "HELL"...had to walk twice. There are definitely NO hills in EK!!
Great atmosphere, they do make it feel like a ski slope with all the locals at the top cheering and banging on pots with wooden spoons, cow bells and whistles. 14.36 for my efforts...and managed to beat some for the first time in 5 races! Might actually be improving.
Saturday 31st 5.6 Multi Terrain
The last one. I thought that it was going to be a bit of a wind down after 5 hard days. No chance, 5.6 mile including the last 4 miles of "The Devil's Burden" relay course. More hills!! A good mixture of tar, hills, woods, cabbage field finish!! Ran well considering the tired legs, but same for every one. 45.05 was my time. Just wanted to get finished and get started on the 100's of cakes waiting.
In summary
I finished 65 out of 158 starters, 3.32.54 to run a combined distance of 27.3 miles. 133 completed the full thing.
One of the best things that I have ever done. It's hard, takes a lot of commitment (I mean travelling as well as running) great mixture of events, distances etc...met some great people over the week and the organisers did really well too. Definitely do it again next year....and perhaps persuade a few others to take the plunge.
Pictures of all 6 races are in the following link (courtesy of RoadRunPics.com)
Very well done to George; it just shows what you can do if you have some confidence. I doubt that George has run 6 times in a week many times before let alone raced 6 times, so that is a huge achievement. In fact George is already lining up 2 more races in the coming fortnight (6.8 mile Hill race and an 8 mile road race, both in Fife).
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