In the Dark
Last night was the Westies 'in the dark' handicap. Not a race, unless you're the racing type, in which case it's definitely a race (Neil). For me, it felt like the start of spring and our first proper evening hill run of the year.
As I started up the path from Clachan of Campsie I seemed to spend most of the time pulling my socks up and will need to remember not to repeat such a bad shoe and sock combo! Luckily, this gave a couple of people behind me time to catch up so that I could cunningly lure them off the path and the wrong way up the hillside. At least I think it was cunning, rather than just being lost in the snow. Eventually, we followed the blinking red light from Chris's headtorch and got to the hut where we turned around and then fell, slid and swore our way down the hillside, climbed the fence and crossed the road. This was all a bit painful and later inspection revealed that my ankles were in fact bleeding. I don't think snow can be quite sharp enough to do that so presumably it was a rouge bit of bracken. Either way, I'd eventually warmed up by the time I reached the road and ran down and round as fast as I could to the finish line. I think most people thought the last stretch of road would be shorter - you don't realise how far across you're going on the descent. Lungs were definitely hurting by the finish. Neil somehow managed to overtake me in Lennoxtown and finished a bit before me, despite setting off 8 minutes after my start time. Next time his handicap will have to involve one arm tied behind his back or perhaps carrying me round.
I definitely enjoyed my handicap race chocolate buttons, which is just as well as I'm afraid Indian Cottage Kirkintilloch, with it's shrivilled pakoras and doesn't get any stars from me. Except maybe a half for the chocolate cake. Company was good though - looking forward to more hill runs as the nights get brighter!
As I started up the path from Clachan of Campsie I seemed to spend most of the time pulling my socks up and will need to remember not to repeat such a bad shoe and sock combo! Luckily, this gave a couple of people behind me time to catch up so that I could cunningly lure them off the path and the wrong way up the hillside. At least I think it was cunning, rather than just being lost in the snow. Eventually, we followed the blinking red light from Chris's headtorch and got to the hut where we turned around and then fell, slid and swore our way down the hillside, climbed the fence and crossed the road. This was all a bit painful and later inspection revealed that my ankles were in fact bleeding. I don't think snow can be quite sharp enough to do that so presumably it was a rouge bit of bracken. Either way, I'd eventually warmed up by the time I reached the road and ran down and round as fast as I could to the finish line. I think most people thought the last stretch of road would be shorter - you don't realise how far across you're going on the descent. Lungs were definitely hurting by the finish. Neil somehow managed to overtake me in Lennoxtown and finished a bit before me, despite setting off 8 minutes after my start time. Next time his handicap will have to involve one arm tied behind his back or perhaps carrying me round.
I definitely enjoyed my handicap race chocolate buttons, which is just as well as I'm afraid Indian Cottage Kirkintilloch, with it's shrivilled pakoras and doesn't get any stars from me. Except maybe a half for the chocolate cake. Company was good though - looking forward to more hill runs as the nights get brighter!
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