Not Nearly Fit Enough - Wan Dae Adventure Race - 20/9/2008

Wednesday afternoon, Tamsin emailed the ssppp list to remind people that the Wan Dae adventure race was happening on the weekend and places were still available. Friday night, Brian and I decided to give it a go.

One thing I like about races in Scotland is the leisurely start that we are afforded. We arrived to the Harlow visitor centre in the Pentland Hills a bit after 12pm for a 1pm start.

Just ahead of 1pm, we were handed our maps with funny symbols on it and a second sheet of paper that identified the symbols as checkpoints including point values. Around 1pm, the race organiser, who reminded me of Patrick from NashvAR, led us on a brief run through the muck and sent us on our way to whichever checkpoints in whichever order we wanted.

We chose a bike route first then the run route then the kayak. The bike route was very familiar terrain and the first two checkpoints were easy to find. The third involved a slight disagreement between Brian and me ("others went that way" is not always a good rule to follow in an adventure race) a few hundred extra metres of cycling before a long slog over a hill to other familiar terrain. That checkpoint was subdivided to three requiring some orienteering along the way. We had found the third on our way to the start. The first was easy but we missed the second and ended up combing an awkward hillside before I spotted it. Brian had more of a slog uphill than I did but soon we were on our way to revisit checkpoint 3 and back on the bikes out.

Another long and occasionally squelchy slog on the bike took us to another checkpoint and then a creative (also squelchy) route over a hill gave me the entertainment of watching Brian stop his bike with no brakes. He would sort of heave himself into the grass and then hop back on it. We found another checkpoint and spoke briefly to a non-racing mountain biker before enjoying a long descent to one of the reservoirs. My back was quite sore at this point, so I was grateful for the restful downhill.

We followed the pavement along the reservoir onto trail to the checkpoint transition for the "run". To get the points, we had to answer a riddle. Mary's mother has four children. The first is April. The second is May. The third is June. What is the name of her fourth child? Easy stuff. The run, however, was not.

We walked most of the run, which was more or less straight up and down Carnethy Hill with a few detours. We went downhill to reach one checkpoint and then realised the rest were at the top of the hill beside us or beyond it. Brian thought it would be best to climb the side of the hill, which alternated scree and shrubbery. In retrospect, I think the more sensible thing would have been to consult the map, realise that the contours meant steep slope and backtrack to the path. In any case, after much slipping and "Your fault!", we made it past the worst of it and took a few minutes rest. The mist rolled in, which motivated a premature end to the rest and a more pronounced effort to reach the top. The summit checkpoint was ours and we decided we had enough "running".

We returned via the trail, collected our bikes and finished the loop to the steep downhill. Sadly, we missed a checkpoint hidden by a creek crossing but less sadly, we found the checkpoint hidden in the trees near the unpronouncable carpark.

Last stop was the kayak. By the time we reached the kayak starting point, we had about 15 minutes left to the race. The mist hadn't reached Harlaw reservoir but the cold wind had. The support crew were not keen on us starting the kayak and one woman told us repeatedly that we would not make it back to finish on time. I don't mind her opinion but I did mind her arguing it repeatedly when I tried to talk to Brian. I wanted to scream at her to shut up and leave us be, but didn't because she had been out there all day in the cold, too. We decided no kayak in the end and cycled to the finish. I should have said something to her, because that was such a negative to end the day.

Cold, tired, sore, I wasn't so sad to not stay for the awards. Brian and I packed up and headed home for a well-earned evening of laziness.

KB5 Road Race – 24/2/2007

Every year, the Edinburgh University Hares and Hounds hold a five mile road race at the Kings Buildings. I can't tell you how much I didn't want to run a 5mi race today.

Thursday afternoon through Friday early evening, I was away to Perth for a work thing. I didn't have time for my Thursday intervals. Instead, I did them yesterday morning with the big disclaimer that I am *so not a morning person, let alone a morning runner. I found a park near the hotel, which was a great alternative to breathing rush hour exhaust. The rest of yesterday was fairly active. I'm not going to tell you what I did last night, except to say that you should scold me because it was nowhere near the resting that my legs needed.

So today, I can't tell you how much I didn't want to race. My butt still hurt from the intervals. My legs felt like lead. My body wanted to lay in bed all day. The last thing in the world either my brain or my body wanted to do was run a race. But I did it anyway.

My friend Alan and I started together, but he's slightly faster than me and I prefer a slower start, so I saw him only for the first half mile. Would you believe it's February in Scotland and people were racing in singlets and itty bitty shorts? I would be attached to the heater the rest of the day if I tried something like that. I wore tights and what amounted to two shirts. Surprisingly, we didn't have hardly any wind.

The first mile was undulating with small hills. The usual race jockeying was limited to what people could do on the pavement and just a metre or so into the street, as nothing was actually closed to traffic. We turned just after mile 1 and started the first climb. It was a fairly steep climb, split to two parts. I love hills and nobody passed me on any of them. I passed a few people on the first part of the climb. One girl passed me on the flat part before the next part of the climb. The second part was steeper and my legs lodged their first protest. I shortened my stride and picked up my cadence. They stopped complaining near the top. We turned there now having the only steep hill out of the way.

The mile 3 marker came up just after the next turn and it was another undulatingly hilly mile across before we would drop back down the other side of the hill. Off to the left, my campus looked very far away. My legs lodged protest #2 as I climbed one small hill. A side stitch developed in sympathy. This one was a bit different and higher up than the ones I'm used to getting. Still on the same side on the right but it was behind my ribs instead of below them. Running got very very hard. I'm sure I slowed down for a minute or so as I tried to shake it. Eventually some weird breathing and stretching while running got it to back off from being so sharp. Mile 3 went on forever.

My stitch finally faded to a hint of an ache just the turn to head down the hill appeared. I picked up the pace again and chased down the mile 4 marker. The runners ahead picked up their pace as well. I don't do well catching people on downhills and this race was no exception. Everybody ahead of me stayed there.

At the bottom of the hill, we had one last uphill. It's steeper than it looks. I had a group of girls a few paces behind me. My leaden legs protested again, my side stitch tried to return again and a brief hint of nausea finally showed up. I remember thinking I sort of deserved all three for my Friday. I also remember thinking nobody passes me in the last mile. I picked up the pace anyway.

The last 1/4 mile took us past the finishers, around two corners and across the line where we started. I found a kick and passed one runner in the last few metres before the line. I felt absolutely awful and went straight into a cool down jog for a few minutes. To stop completely felt like the worst idea ever. When I finally stopped jogging, it just felt like a bad idea. :) I stretched a little, chatted with my friend Alan and then headed back to my office for some more stretching out of the cold.

So I survived and aside from the leaden legs all of the other aches have subsided. I have no idea what my time was. I couldn't be bothered hanging around waiting. I had to cycle to the bike shop and wanted to get home before I might have needed the lights I forgot. I'll post a time when they're posted on Monday or Tuesday. I set a goal for myself of sub 45:00 (9min/mi) given my handicaps for the day.

Edit: My time was 40:01, which puts me at just a sliver over 8min/mi and absolutely stunned considering how bad I felt. I placed 181/218 racing primarily against a bunch of younguns. :)