Dechmont Law 2013

Dechmont Law race 2013 on Sunday and probably my worst race of the year so far. Never mind though, eh... it was only the taking part which counts and I suppose I did run a PB, even if it wasn't as quick as I'd have liked and wasn't really that bad. The race day was reasonably hot but not as much as previous days and the sun wasn't out as I had feared beforehand. A good day for running really, which was helped by the firm paths which were virtually mud-free... racing flats it was then. I pledged to take it really easy at the start having shot off ridiculously fast in previous years and I settled in to an easy rhythm with two groups in front. There was the lead group, made up of Max, Brian Turner, Edel and a few others and then there was the chase group, with a couple of Carnethies and a few others in there. As I worked my way through the 2nd group, passing them all without effort by the end of the first mile, the lead group stuck together, maybe 20-30m in front. It stayed like this for the first 2k+ then the gap increased slightly approaching KM3. By KM3, I was all on my own. There was no immediate danger from behind and nobody ahead who I could potentially catch. I was cruising along, managing to maintain sub-40 pace. The uphill hurt slightly but I slowed and enjoyed watching all the others come down the hill as I sped off up the way. I hit the woods and started to think this was feeling like a training run, rather than a legitimate race. I tried to push the pace on the downhill but had started to fade slightly softened by the motorway bridge hill. There was still no one around me and very few marshalls along the long, back leg section. I finally saw a Musselburgh vest in front after 7k but he was miles up and I had started to feel sluggish, so wasn't confident of catching him. But I kept going until the final motorway bridge really sapped my will and energy, I could see the Musselburgh vest about 200m ahead on the straight sections and had started to sense someone behind. I knew that there was that horrible extra loop around the Dechmont Law reps section to go and told myself to ease down the hill and preserve a little in the tank for a potential sprint finish if required. Once I reached the top of the hill at the woods I was feeling slightly off-colour but knew I'd manage a good speed to the end and was unlikely to be overtaken... the chap behind was further back than anticipated. When Martin Hyman told me there was a 60m gap behind I was relieved, relaxed and coasted in at a decent speed. I was pretty much on for sub-40 until the last few miles when I faded quite badly, my legs giving up and returning to their default setting (marathon pace). I shouldn't be too disappointed with a minute PB (although the course is different, it's fairly similar) and it is a tough course only a few weeks out from the marathon. My legs giving in and the lack of any competition during the race didn't really help. It should be fairly achievable to go faster next year... which is always a bonus really. No prizes this year unfortunately. HBT won the men's team prize and first WL resident went to a Linlithgow chappie who finished 4th... or it would have had it been awarded.