Notes
My first race with Eleni in Scotland was a memorable run. The weather was ideal, except for the 20 MPH headwind for the first 4 miles.
This is an amazing course... such a unique experience. Almost like 3 races in one.
'Race One' is the beginning 3.75 rolling and gradual uphill, climbing 350 feet.
'Race Two' is the sadistic just short of a mile off road monster, lung burning, quad busting hill, climbing 550 feet.
'Race Three' is the super fast all downhill finish from 4.75 to 9.3. miles.
Not knowing how to pace a race like this, I just tried to run the first 3.75 at a little faster than perceived tempo effort. I didn't want to be gasping for breath going into the hill. When I made the turn into the hill, by first thought were, "oh my God!". I wore my Garmin as I wanted to see if the route was accurate, (which it was) because we had to do a bit of 'fell' running.The hill was a combination of grass and some rocky terrain. I checked my pace and for most of it I was running around 11 minute pace. 3 times in the beginning steepest section, I put my hands on my quads and power walked for about 10 seconds. This slowed me to 12 min. pace but really helped keep my breathing in control. After this I ran the rest of the hill. My thought was this must be a taste of what the Mt Washington is like. :) The hill was a little easier than I thought perhaps because I had mentally built it up in my mind as the toughest thing I'll ever do. The only other hill in a race that I can remember that I can even compare too would be Bancroft Tower on the old Charlie's 10 Miler in Worcester. But this was tougher!
After the hill, (back on the road) I recovered my breathing for about 40 seconds and just hammered the downhill as fast as I could possibly go with no let up. I just leaned forward, turned the legs over and went for it. The key was just turning those legs as fast as possible without tightening up. My left hamstring started to tighten after about 2 miles, but it held together. My gluts/hamstring issues are so much better now. No way a year ago I could run this fast. I thought of Eleni on the downhill and wondered if all the pounding was going to cause her back problems. Considering all the problems Eleni has had to deal with recently, she ran a great race, I am sooooopoooo proud of her. :) Some guy tried to pass her in the last 200 meters but no way LH was going to let that happen! I put an extra insert on my shoes because of the pounding and I feel it really helped.
I passed 2 runners on the hill, (which was surprising) and 7 on the downhill. Coming into the last .3 miles I made a strong kick to pass the runner I was chasing for miles. This was the toughest part of the race for me, as I pushed all out on the downhill and still was able to drive to strong finish and gave it my all. This was the hardest I've run in a long time.
13th place with 186 overall. 1st 50-59, Super Vet division, (Seniors) and won £25 voucher at Mark's and Spencer's store.
Splits: 6:19, 6:27, 6:35, 7:47, 8:58, 5:42, 5:32, 5:29, 5:15, and last .3 at 5:05 pace. It was so cool to hit speeds I haven't seen in 10 years. :)
I am now hooked on the Moffat and look forward to running this amazing wonderful race many times!