Turnhouse 2013

I'm not sure if this was my fifth, or my sixth Turnhouse hill race. I know it's only a wee race and very low key but something keeps drawing me back to it... it's probably the perfect storm in that it seems to fit in with my plans every year, is pretty local, it's a reasonable work out and there's a pub at the end! Having not done much hill running this year I wasn't really sure what to expect but I knew I had a decent pentlands run at the weekend and my fitness/mojo was starting to return after the marathon slump. I wasn't sure if a PB was realistic but I suspected I'd be able to best my time from last year's race, which was a minute slower than my PB. I was a bit apprehensive about taking part - ambitiously I'd added this one to the club championship series, hoping it would maybe attract a few additional club runners but only Kenny showed any interest beforehand. I had thoughts of winning the championship on account of winning the three hill races and some ok performances in other events but thankfully Max and Colin are hot on my heels and will likely win overall if they finish 5 of the designated races. So my fears were alleviated and I decided to go ahead and push for the win. My fears that only Kenny and I would attend were also alleviated as we had five seniors in the full race and two juniors in the short race - great news and probably justifies the inclusion in the championship (phew!). The race started and I was determined not to set off at breakneck speed but to try to pace myself for the steep section of the climb and beyond. It didn't really work... I think I hadn't warmed up sufficiently and I felt awful jogging over the first few hills and then up to the long contour session. Robbie Kennedy was doing one of his first hill races and when he overtook I was worried I wouldn't be able to catch him again but thankfully I passed him on the first runnable section and pulled away as the race started to get tougher. Through the forest and then the gentler climb I was feeling really bad and just wanting to get the race over with. Then on to the steep climb where my calves were screaming as they tend to do on this section. I was properly crawling up the hill and didn't lose any places but made up maybe one. I finally reached the top of the hill and had a look at my watch, thinking maybe I could get under 30 minutes if I finished strongly. As usual, it took a bit of distance to get the legs going again after the climb and I jogged along the ridge, then up the second peak. I remembered in previous years properly red-lining here so slowed the pace slightly on the descent to save something in the tank for the long run in. It worked well and I made a place on the descent then another on the run in. It was touch and go all the way but as I moved through the final sections I thought I'd maybe be alright and make it in on time. Unfortunately I ended up missing out by a couple of seconds... but still PB'd by over a minute so a good results all round. I'm pretty sure I've PBd every race I've ran this year (excl. Parkruns!) so that's another to add to the tally! Afterwards I did a small cooldown then went to the pub with Kenny for a beer. Found out that Andy Murray had been two sets down in the Wimbledon quarter finals but he managed to pull it back and win in five sets... result! We were also grossly overcharged for our beers... £10.50 for two pints of Peroni and a packet of crisps....