2006 - The Porty contingent and Ben's wife Alison
(I've still got that North Face fleece and I was wearing it today. It's my standing around at races fleece.)
Storming home in 5th place in 2006.
Davy had the wind up before the start, but he needn't have worried.
Registration hasn't changed in 11 years.
But what if there is someone right behind me?
Mr and Mrs.
Unexpected outcome...
I thought I'd done Manor Water twice before, but looking back over old results, all I can find is once, in 2006. So 11 years since I've done it. We were so young then. And so fresh. With short curly hair.
Other things I'd distorted in my memory - I thought I remembered it was kind of just straight up an easy angled grassy hill for 5 miles and then back down again.
It's usually on the same weekend as the Skyline, which is probably what got in the way of my ever doing it again. I remembered liking it and that I found it more runnable than most hill races.
So anyway, enough of that.
When I saw it was on this Saturday I kind of wanted to do it. It's about 10 miles and not nearly as hilly as the Skyline and it's low-key and usually not over-busy. Peter was up for it, so we headed down, just beyond Peebles. My kit bag was still pretty much packed from last Sunday so it was low-prep - and with a 1pm start, we didn't even have to get up early.
It was meant to be a dry day but it started raining on the way down the road to get there. I was hoping it was just a shower, but it set in a bit more sternly later. I must admit to thinking that since it tends to be a small race, I might be in with a shout for a V50 prize - depending on who turned up. When I saw Kathy Henly arrive shortly after us I realised that I would have competition. Our form of old is - I can beat Kathy on the uphill, but she can take it back on the downs. We played out exactly this scenario at Philiphaugh a few years back. The only thing to be done to protect my imagined V50 prize was to get up that hill as quickly as I could. So that's what I set out to do.
We got started with little fuss - apart from Nick Williamson making a dramatic last minute arrival and being put together by a team of men (number, shoelaces, kit) so he was ready to start. He was doing a Park Run and Hill Race combo as some rather outside-the-box marathon training for 2 weeks time. It might be the perfect training for steady marathon road miles, although, you know, a taper at this stage would be a more typical approach. :-)
Anyway - low fuss - off we went - up into the mud, and clag, and stones, and in your teeth wind, and blowing rain, and mist, and electric green mossy bog,... on, on, on. Where was the gradual green slope I had invented in my head?
I was determined to run as much of it as I could, having convinced myself it wasn't steep. I had to walk because I was stuck in a queue from time to time but other-wise ran. Some real memories were emerging as I ran - like how many rocks and hidden holes there were, so I wasn't really looking forwards to coming downhill, being a pussy and all.
Davy Duncan came alongside at 4 miles to say it was a bit disheartening when the front men hadn't appeared yet - how far was there to go? I broke the news that there was still most of another mile to the top.
Eventually the front runners started to appear. Stewart Whitlie seemed a long way out in front. (I love races where you see the race front coming back because it gives you something to think about and involves you in that part of the race.) I got a friendly shout from many of the first men as they were coming down - which was just really nice.
Shortly afterwards Peter came down looking happy the way he didn't in the Skyline, and downhilling well and he gave me a load of encouragement - which raised my spirits - which lowered about 30 seconds later when I heard Kathy shouting at him from close behind. Hell's teeth! Not enough of a gap! Still, this was no time for defeatism.
It was a relief to turn around at the top and get the wind behind me, even though I now had to run as hard as I could downhill - which isn't very fast. Strangely, it didn't occur to me until quite a way down the hill and a woman coming up said "Well done first lady"....that I hadn't seen any women coming back, which I meant I was in first place!! In the name of all that's holy - how the hell was I going to keep Henly behind me so I could storm home to the glory of my first ever win?
The answer came soon. I wasn't. She caught up behind me. I KNEW. I could hear lady breath. It's different from a man's breath. She exchanged some words and then went ahead. I figured I was done, but I wasn't going to give up. I tracked her as best as I could. She was showing weakness on the uphills, so I went past her. Honestly, I was relentless. I didn't once let myself think "second is pretty good too". Once we'd got over the final rise and she was still ahead I knew I'd lost her...and so the game was to keep going as hard as I could so nobody got to take that 2nd off me. And so it went.
The whole of that 2nd half was like a mad video game. I was heartily happy to finish.
So instead of getting a V50 prize I got 2nd lady, and 3 beers - 1 just for finishing and then 2 for 2nd.
We hung about in the beer tent for ages, with the shepherds from the sheepdog trials, drinking tea and eating scones.
Lots of prizes for pals. Stewart Whitlie stayed in first place for the win. Me and Kathy got 2nd and 1st. Nick got the M40 prize and Peter the M50. Big smiles. We even got out the muddy parking field without getting stuck. More big Smiles. I'm off to drink some beer. :-)
Thanks very much to Euan Boyd and Carnethy HR club for putting this on today.
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