Why does the title of this race make me think of the killer in Silence of the Lambs, who lisps, "It rubs the lotion in its skin. It does this whenever its told."?
The hills leaned down towards me and lisped,
"It feels the burns. It does this whenever its told". I'm not really saying this race was a torturer of course. Or that it wanted to wear my skin.
"It runs upon the rocky track. It does this as fast as it can". All right, all right already.
Me and Peter had an argument about the race that went like this;
Me - "yeah, it's a trail race really, with a few hills thrown in. I couldn't get any speed up on all the flat bits."
Peter - "It's a hill race, that's why it's called a hill race."
We were very nearly late for the start, flying down the A7 at more than 40. It was very nice to see the sun break through. Edinburgh had been under a grey blanket so thick you forgot it was a blanket and thought it was the sky.
I had new Salomon hill shoes to wear, which were lovely, but I'm so used to wearing comfy Hokas. The stony paths and fields were killing my legs and feet. I pushed up hill as much as I could because I'm better at it than the downs. I got in a regular pattern going round, over-taking the same people on the ups and then seeing them hare past me as I went as fast as any sane person would. You know.
I was a bit nervous about the race - it seemed quite committing and I had no idea where I was going and I didn't want to make an arse of it. From that point of view I think it went fine.
Back Selfie, thanks to Digby Maas.
Tights.
Much happier having let those big girls go on ahead.
Another Back Selfie - thanks Digby.
I was very glad to finish. My Garmin found it to be just under 13 miles rather than the 13-14 I'd been expecting, which was only a bonus as far as I was concerned. I saw Richard Hadfield at the end and some other Porties. Richard was immensely cheerful having enjoyed himself and run well. Some people told me about the views, but I didn't see them. I was watching my feet a lot of the time. Infinite opportunities to trip and knock my teeth out. It really was stony ground.
Arriving back at the Rugby Club I met Graeme Dunbar, who was happy with his race, and Kathy who seemed to me to have run a stormer. (She was first W50). She told me the showers were freezing which I was relieved to hear as I couldn't really be bothered with all that anyway - preferring to fill my face with haggis pie and soup, and then coffee, and then Fen's banana bread which had somehow made it to the table even though she wasn't back yet. The results were announced after a short wait. It was all very well organised. The course was beautifully marked. The pies were hot. I would do it again but I would wear my trail Hokas. The last mile is on steep, downhill, stony trail and I had to run at the side of the road on soil because I couldn't take any more pounding up my legs.
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It was my first race this year, so it didn't make any sense to sign up for a cross-country on the coming Saturday. The 'Team East Lothian' XC was a Porty championship race however, and the course was at Foxlake, which is nice running. So we signed up. Since Feel the Burns I have had a little scratchy pain at the side of my right knee. It's right where I was injured so long last year so it made me feel cautious. It is in no way as bad and if I hadn't been injured there before I would ignore it entirely - but I really did manage to run myself into the ground last year, so I'm not keen on doing it again.
This was on my mind as we arrived at Foxlake this morning, and it was grey, and I was tired and quite hungry and all in all I didn't feel very much like racing. The course was 2 X 4K laps so Peter and I went out and warmed up by running a lap. My spirits lifted a bit. It was nice running on the springy, sandy soil. Today I had opted for Hokas for comfort over hill shoes and that seemed fine as a choice. It had been raining in the night but the ground had drained. The course kept the interest up all the way - it was now uphill, now downhill, another steep up and down and then out onto a trail - then through some trees, which was fun, just keeping as straight a line as possible without crashing - another trail, through some dunes, over a bridge, some more trees and then the same run through the field to the finish as in the JMW 50K.
I felt much better on the start line as I had a half an hour before.
And then....we were off! We were bunched to start with and then spread out. I could see Shery ahead and tried to keep her in my sights. I was fairly sure there was another Porty person or two close by but wasn't sure who they were - it turned out to be Julie Moffat, and a little further back, Angela Leggat. I think it was into the 2nd lap that Julie made her move - but when she did it was decisive - she caught up to Shery and they ran together for quite some time. They weren't far away but they were moving forwards away from me, and I was actually quite surprised to even be in touch - but I tried not to settle. I still wasn't 100% sure who was behind me but I kind of thought it was Angela and I was trying to stay ahead of her - that was my motivation to keep on keeping on. Mile 4 was my slowest and I was struggling to remember how to run. How do you go faster? I tried this and that - moving my feet faster or pumping my elbows - I wasn't sure - it all seemed such an effort. Angela told me later that she'd been having some similar thoughts. There was a patch of slightly muddy trail that curved round - just a bit uphill and into the wind - where, as Steve Cram and Brendan Foster would say, questions were asked, and answers were needed....
Anyway, we were soon finishing. Our friend and fat-biker Jason Liddell was at the end so I have him to thank for the photo. I am impressed I have my eyes open and I'm not making the dying fish face. Must have made a special effort for the camera.
There were a fair few Porties in the prizes, which is unsurprising as we fairly dominated the race in terms of numbers. Grace McKenzie was 2nd and Amy Kerr was....1st vet? Ex-Porty and Edinburgh AC Jill Morrow was not only 1st V50 but 3rd over all.
In the men I think Willie got the V60 East Lothian prize. Peter has a new V50 nemesis called Mike or something. He looks fit and beat him at Binning Woods and again today. It will keep him focused!
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It was good to see lots of Porties today, old and new. If my leg behaves itself I think we'll be heading for the hills tomorrow. The temperatures are dropping but the sun is coming out....
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