Pentland Skyline

My first long hill race, or long hill run of any description since….  Pentland Skyline 2013!

Anyhow, I thought I ought to keep my unbroken streak of 13 races going, so resolved to potter round slowly from the start.

I briefly exchanged places with David and Alan a few times over the bumps before Allermuir, but after Castlelaw it was game over, and they were both out of sight.

I faded to a slow crawl after Turnhouse and briefly chatted with Peter Buchanan and Diane Baum on the way up Carnethy, before they both dropped me.

I then got caught by Morag McCracken/McClelland (3rd lady) at the summit of South Black and watched her effortlessly lollop away towards East Kip.  I caught her up on East Kip, and from this point to the end we exchanged places on every hill.  A few runners took a cheeky line off Hare Hill by ignoring the flagged route, and cutting the corner, and thereby miraculously appearing in front of us after the Green Cleuch.

Needless to say, it was my slowest race ever, but not by much, and it still felt like hard enough work.

Well done to all the old men Westies who ran!