Fife Revisited!

George still at large in Fife (not George the midge this time):
Thursday night was a dilemma for me. A wet 5k TT or a visit to Balmullo, Fife for what was stated as 4.9 mile trail. My notable absence from the TT correctly suggests that I opted for Balmullo.
What a nightmare! Thought I had left in plenty of time, but got stuck in the road works on the M8 for an hour. Looking at the sat-nav, I would get there 2 minutes late, and I wasn't even changed! I thought just persevere and maybe make up the time on route. Well, I got there 10 minutes to spare, so a quick registration, a frantic change in front of the people behind the desk in the hall (didn't even have time for my trademark bandanna!) and a 3 minute run round the corner to the start. Bizarre!
I arrived in time to hear them say "watch out for the mud, the wet and the animals...go!!"
We're off and running up this rocky path for about half a mile or so (there's kids in this race too - strange!), round up on to grass and a mixture of surfaces (puddles were ankle deep), then a steep muddy grass hill (this was a joke, as people were hanging on to branches of the trees to try and prevent them falling, it was becoming more of an army assault course)....I thought "just go for it" but you get carried off to the side and end up facing the wrong way round. I wished I had a tea tray handy as I could have sat on it and been first down. Eventually, I got clear of it and came to the farmers field with the animals. There was plenty of evidence of "heavy duty grazing" in this area as I painfully watched where my feet landed. I ended up walking a few steps and was passed by a wee boy in a Liverpool top and what looked like his mum. The mum was soon walking too, so I took the opportunity to at least get one of them back. We continued for another half mile over a more rocky surface and I could see for miles (no point in coming up this hill and no taking in the sights). At last I was at the top and it was round a phone mast and all the way back.
This was great as it was mostly downhill, but I was thinking "how in the hell am I going to get back up that muddy slope?" All was going well and I was actually passing people now. I then came to this slope again and it must have taken about 3 mins to scramble up 100mtr and was being passed by people that seemed to be getting a better footing (my trail shoes were pretty useless in this terrain).
I eventually find myself back on the half mile rocky path where I had started, and was able to pass the people that glided past me on the slope. I was really finishing fast and was more than able to hold off the other fast finishers. However, I then see the wee lad in the Liverpool strip about 20 mtrs from the line. I thought "how did he get here and wondered if he had actually ran it?". He's almost walking, but hears me coming and starts running again...he finishes a couple of seconds ahead of me.
I was quite pleased with my run. 43.04 for maybe 4.9 miles, but I had never ran a course like that before in my life, plus the winner was 30 mins plus for this tough route.
I will  never forget this race, not just for the route, but for my absolute dismay on looking at the results the following day and seeing that my "Liverpool stripped" Master Van Rensburg was an M under 11 year old!!!
Next Tuesday is the last of the summer races in Fife, so I'll be heading to Ceres for an 8 mile road....hopefully my wee running pal will be in his bed!


Well done to George on another adventure!
Alan