At 9:30 the field of 220 were set off along the coast on a flat rocky jeep trail for 800m before turning inland for the start of the 11km, 2000 foot climb. My head was spinning today with the strain of the previous day's race on my blocked sinuses and although I was comfortable on the flat as soon as I turned onto the hill the legs were instant jelly. At that point I knew any hope of trying to race today was gone and it was just a case of not doing any damage to myself. Easier said than done as the legs burned with the constant climb and the relentless heat.
The cheering crowd were a welcome sight in the village square, one short lap of which brought me to the finish in a time of 57:04. As expected, I had dropped back to 12th in the overall competition (and 12th on the day). However, the age classifications had been corrected over-night and I now find myself as first M45 with an 11:47 lead over the second M45. More in his element today, Jimmy Stewart finished in 1:21:32 and maintained 3rd in the M60 classification. My new team (which I have now found out is called Erdinger Alkoholfrei) is languishing in 10th place. The team consists of a German surveyor, a British Army dentist and me and perhaps could do with some alkohol to improve performance.
A post race leg massage will hopefully have repaired me enough for tomorrow's trail race half marathon with another 1000 foot of climbing.
Alan
3 comments:
Sounds like a tough series putting the tour of Clydside into perspective but one question i have to ask. Does this brewery team supply you with freebies.
good luck with the rest of the series
Enjoying your commentry especially "the sun was burning a hole in us" if only !The EK 10K consisted of finishing and counting your fingers and toes to make sure they were all present and correct and had not fell off due to frostbite. Hope your sinuses clear up and you can lead your team onwards and upwards
Thoroughly enjoyed reading your excellent reports Alan. You must be exhausted.
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