Moorfoot's End of Season Handicap
This morning was the third leg of the club handicap series, expertly organised by James and Rachael. The first race in March, in the forest in Cardrona, I ran fairly well and came in well up the field but at the second in April, at Glentress, I felt terrible after a bout of food poisoning and trailed in last, just failing to reel in Mick Warrington on the line.
This time, the race was south of Innerleithen at the Leithen Valley on some tracks skirting the edge of the Moorfoots. Unfortunately, it was teeming down with rain and pretty windy. I put on a windproof top but it was completely pointless, since I soaked through within minutes. I started with a couple of other chaps, Eddie Balfour and Nick, one of Colin William's friends. The first mile was flat, and with the wind. I took out a wee lead on the other two and quickly got my HR up to my threshold. Russell came steaming past very early, taking about a minute out of me (I think) and I tried to match his pace but didn't last long before my HR rocketed. We turned right and started a climb which would last about 3 miles and, though it was never steep, it took it out of my legs. My first mile was run in sub-7 minute miles and the second in about 7:30 but the next two, I struggled a bit and hit high 8s and low 9s as the hill dragged on. Nick re-caught me at about the same point as Colin but I was struggling and couldn't stay with them. Soon enough, the hill ended and we started the long, wet, muddy descent. I passed Rachael at the top of the hill and tried to keep up a strong pace, rudely interrupted by a short ascent before dropping again. It was very runnable and suited me and Mick Warrington came into my sights halfway down. My sixth mile was run in 6 minutes dead. Back onto the flat with 2 miles back into the wind, I tried to keep the pace up to catch Mick. Despite running in mid-6s, it took me until the final 200 metres before I passed him, coming in 4th in 54:40, absolutely soaked through to the skin. I ended up third in the series, behind Russell and Colin, and I'm glad I managed to stay strong despite going out too hard.