28th June 2020
The Video
and, interactively,
The Background
Wow! Our first race back after Covid-19 lockdown restrictions ended. I had been training pretty consistently, and felt keen to run hard and give the lads some decent competition.
The previous week it had rained quite a lot, so we expected the trails to be pretty soft (and they were).
The Day
Brett drove me, Will and Barnaby out, leaving St Heliers about 7:00. (about the right timing). Neville came out with Michal. Nick Paterson did the Long. Brett had opted to do the Long series this year, while we were all up for the Super Long (especially Barnaby who I think wanted to do an even longer course)
The weather turned out pretty ok - a bit overcast and just a few minor showers to put a sheen of wet on the trail...
Barnaby got his knee strapped so he looked like an amputee with an artificial leg, and Neville even remembered his puffer this time :)
We all shot off in a hurry down the gravel road, before settling into our typical close-quarters combat mode with Will leading and the rest of us jostling for positions and never losing sight of each other for long.
Nick Paterson did the Long.
By the end of the first lap, we had just barely caught up to Gary Walden, who had beaten me a couple of times last year in the 50+ category. I put on a bit more speed to move past him (and Will) as we started the second lap. At this point I was conscious that I was in danger of blowing up and potentially giving up some hard-fought time to Gary, so I stopped trying to be a speedster, and moderated my pace to something that I had a vague chance of maintaining. Fortunately everyone was suffering by now, as the trail deteriorated into mud and we caught up to the Mid-course runners. This involved lots of high-risk maneuvers as we crashed past slower runners on the narrow single tracks. Fun! I think that I might have caused a few minor accidents along the way... oops....
I got slowly overtaken by Will, then Barnaby, then Michal, then Neville. But I was having fun and running as fast as I could.
On the final hill up to the finish line, I caught up to Neville. Neville tells me that he said we should run into the finish together, but I have no recollection of this conversation. (Honest!) So instead, I bust my gut in the last 50 meters to beat him to the line. I think that if he had another puff on his ventolin then it would have been a different result...
So, by the finish, Will, Michal, Barnaby, Me, Neville were separated by just 67 seconds!
I was ruined (That is me in the background trying not to faint or puke....)
Post-Race
I was super exhausted, and needed quite a lie-down upon returning home. But by the next day I felt ok-ish, and didn't have any properly sore bits.
I am happy that I ran about the best possible. I didn't carry or drink water throughout - possibly I would have had more energy if I had consumed at least a few hundred ml at the halfway point? I dunno? I had the normal 1+2 Replace Gels.
I was a full 6 minutes slower than last year (which is a lot!). Unfortunately only a little bit of that time should be attributed to the wet underfoot conditions. :(
I managed to put 60 seconds on Gary in the 50+ category. (although 2 other gents beat me home, I'm hoping that they mightn't be doing the series...!)
Brett was first in 60+ Long, Pru Barker first in 60+ Short. I was 3rd in 50+ SuperLong, Will/Michal/Barnaby/Neville respectively 5th, 6th,7th and 8th. Neil 12th in 50+.
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