Cyclist v Harriers 2018

Apparently, Westie reports are like buses. You wait ages for one – and then two come along at the same time!

Anyway…I got over excited again. Rushing off too fast at the start of a race. I wanted to nail the first jump which was fairly tall for my wee legs, so I was approaching it at speed. But then the bleeding cyclists messed it up for me. Most of them had gotten to the obstacle first and caused a traffic jam as they lifted their bikes over, so I had to just stop and walk over it. I looked over to see Ian T who had just arrived in the nick of time with his race number crumbled up in his hand. Once over the obstacle I ran off at the same quick speed until my lung caught up with me and my pace slowed and so the natural order of the Westies took over with Ruth passing then Ian T, Don R, Chris M, Chris F and Lucinda B. The only person that didn’t pass me was Andrew F. Will B was already way ahead, having sprinted off at the start with the fast guys.

The course wasn’t too muddy, so it felt like the cyclist had a bit of an advantage this year with Chris M getting passed by a pink bike with strawberry stickers and streamers on the handle bars. The type of bike you get from Santa Claus when you are 7! Some very speedy runners had showed up this year with Will B chasing the pack and finding it way harder than the previous year to keep them in view. It was the fast speed of these guys that won the race for the runners with the first runner through in a very fast time of 26:22 (Calum MacKenzie: Corstorphine AC) which is a 5 min 36 sec mile pace. The first cyclist was through in 29:22. Will B was 6th male in 29:40. First Westie women was Ruth in 33:23 who was second women overall with Toni McIntosh first women in 32:08. The westies that followed were; Ian T in 33:34 (26th), Christopher M in 34:02 (34th), Don R in 34:33 (37th) and Chris F in 34:51 (39th). While all of these guys had crossed the finish line, both myself and Andrew were on the final lap. Andrew had gone passed me on the final section of the second lap. I didn’t chase. Just wanting to run my own race. However, another runner wanted to go passed me and at that point I decided no. Nope. Nooooooooo! Apparently my dignity had kicked in.

So, I picked up the pace ever so slightly which had me not too far from Andrew. A cyclist went passed me near the end and I heard the ‘no’ in my head again, so I flung myself down a wee steep drop passing them. Near the end I could feel the runner behind me begin to pick up speed and chase and Andrew had picked up the pace also, we were all increasing the pace, even though presumably we were all fecked. I felt dreadful. I knew I had to sprint but I also felt like I was going to vomit. I accepted it was going to feel incredibly unpleasant and sprinted for the line anyway, passing Andrew and giving the other fella na chance. Then hung my head between my legs and went to vomit. Thankfully the vomit never came.

It was a great race and great Westie company!