Undone at Dechmont Law

Bless me Father, for I have run.  It has been nearly two weeks since my last confession.  It's not that I haven't been doing anything in the meantime - mileage has been back up, and some of the runs have been very pleasant indeed - I just haven't felt that anything was particularly blog-worthy.

One thing I noticed though was that it's going to take a bit of work to recover the lost speed/sharpness.  At track intervals and the Club's monthly 5K handicap on consecutive Thursday nights, the times on the watch don't represent sufficient reward for the perceived effort. 

Only one way to cure that though, which means more racing!  So Sunday morning saw an early start to head "through the West" for the Dechmont Law 10K Trail Race.  I'd elected (unlike Brian and Andy A, who are clearly made of sterner stuff and had decided to take on both) to forego the pleasures of the Haddington 10K the day before, with its balmy 50mph breezes, in order to concentrate on the one that had club championship points at stake. 

Jo's car is in for its MOT and service this weekend, so she needed a lift to a training day for her work.  On the way she asked me about the race.  I told her it was meant to be a really nice trail run, with some lovely scenery.  She asked where it was.  I said Livingston.  She asked, "are you sure?!"  Sorry Livingston.

But I had been here before, for the East District cross country relays (albeit that those were on a much shorter loop), and I could see that there might be some truth to it.  It certainly seemed a more credible claim than the one about the UFO landing.

No sign of UFOs today

A wee bit sharp...

I don't think much of the new Google Watch

And today's Countdown conundrum is...

The timing of Jo's course, and a 12 noon race start, meant that I arrived with loads of time to register (receiving an unusual wrist-borne chip device) and walk the course beforehand, taking plenty of pictures as I went.  I then returned to the car, dumped my spare stuff, and headed back up to the start area to have a bit of a warm up.  It was there that I saw Anne, who told me that Stuart and Rab W from Musselburgh had gone for a trot up to the woods.  I went off in search of them, but found only the very back markers in the Fun Run.  I was more than a little mortified when two of the marshals applauded me and enthusiastically said well done.  And that in spite of the fact that I'd chatted at (relative) length to one of them not 15 minutes earlier!  Giving up on finding the fast lads, I decided to return to the start, and promptly met Stuart (isn't that always the way?!).

The way that only Stuart can make you feel...
(photo: Stuart)

After a bit of a blether back at base camp with the Andersons, the Davidsons, and the Hays, I went a further warm up with Stuart and Brian to keep the heart ticking over until we were called to the line.  We were asked to check that the numbers on our "watches" matched those on our vests, and Rab asked if I wanted to swap.  Yes please!

The race starts on a gentle incline up towards the woods, and I managed to find a spot quite high up the pack, feeling pleased that I didn't seem to be busting a gut to keep up with the frontrunners.

The start (Point S)

Point A

 

Stuart passed me heading down this avenue, at around only 600 metres into the race.  Another older fast chap in a yellow and black vest followed, before David and three or four others.   But it wasn't as if I had gone off that hard and was now paying the price.  I simply seem to be a little one-paced at the moment.  I don't slow hugely on the steady ups, but equally don't pick up much on the downs.  Which leaves me in the unusual position of praying for hills.  I tried to restrict the gap to Stuart and David as much as I could - not wanting to throw in the towel too early - but there was no doubt that it was increasing on the largely downhill stretch to the turn at Point D.

Porty's Graham appears to have beaten us all to Point B (Ya Bas!)

The path linking Points D' and D

From Point D back up to Point C

Happily, there was another climb from D all the way up to highest point at A.  This stretch saw me pass a Lothian, Carnegie, Musselburgh and A.N. Other red vest, and draw back to within a few yards of David by the time that we encountered his Dad for the first time.

From Point C to A

The Green Arrows flying in formation
(photo: Syd Woods)

(photo: Syd Woods)

Point A back down to the start/finish (and the end of lap 1)

But a warning light had started to flash on the instrument panel.  My right shoe was beginning to feel rather loose and I remembered that, having seen the course and decided that a trail shoe wasn't required, I'd neglected to properly secure my laces.  Schoolboy error.  We were only nearing the end of the first lap (the much shorter of the two at 2.9km) so there was surely no way it would hold for the duration.

So it was something of a surprise to feel the left lace flapping first.  What are the chances of that happening, eh, I ask you?!  No option but to stop to tie them both.  Ice ages passed, galaxies were born and then died.  Ok, 18 seconds according to the Garmin.  But enough time for Messrs Lothian, Red, Carnegie and Musselburgh (an unlikely accountancy firm?) to reverse my earlier good work.  I tried not to get too upset that I'd need to use the longest drag of the race up from G to the gate between A and B to pick them off again, rather than consolidate an embryonic lead.

(photo: Syd Woods)

I re-entered the woods very slightly ahead of the Lothian and David, with the others having dropped further behind.  Unfortunately the Lothian and David promptly came back past me as we were now losing height again.  David in particular seemed to be attacking the descents with a gusto that I just couldn't match.

This was some of the nicest running of the race though, despite the traffic noise from the M8.  Which was a little surreal as there were only fleeting glimpses of it - the visuals were far more suggestive of birdsong and perhaps a deer at the margins.

Beyond Point B, heading out to J

The M8 is just over the fence

The turn at Point J was much more prosaic however.  A tarmac subway under the M8 (with fenced off works), before a tarmac climb to a bridge over the adjacent slip road, followed by a section of trails through felled forest.  I'll spare you the photos of that. 

But the bridge had allowed me to get back past David and the Lothian.  The next stretch back along the other side of the M8, with the wind in your face, and not a lot of shelter given the deforestation, was the toughest of the race.  And there was no way of telling how close David and the Lothian were - was that their ragged breathing and faltering footsteps, or my own?  There was nothing ahead to help - no hares to chase, as I could only just see a bright Carnegie vest in the far distance.

Near Point L, on the other side of the M8

About to take a sharp left up over the footbridge

An attempted sneaky peek back before the return bridge revealed the Lothian as my closest pursuer, at perhaps 50 yards.  But crucially he saw me looking and, I thought, must have taken heart from my concern.  Which forced me to attack the bridge harder than I might have otherwise.

That way to Glasgow

Third (and thankfully final) visit to Point C
(photo: Syd Woods)

Heading back along to Point B, I was convinced that both the Lothian and David must be closing, so I was delighted when the hairpin came and I could take my time to establish that the gap had grown and I was, in all likelihood, safe from the rear.

Breaking out into the open ground I was surprised to see Stuart as next man ahead.  Admittedly he was on the far side of the open ground, but I hadn't seen him in quite some time.

A quick look at the watch persuaded me to up the pace as best I could, notwithstanding the fact that my place wasn't going to change either way.  And I missed out on a sub-40 anyway.  Ah well, still can't be too disappointed I suppose.

Nearly there
(photo: Syd Woods)

Stuart reckoned he was probably 2nd MV50, but there was no doubt that Rhona was 1st WV50 - only narrowly missing out on 1st woman overall.  Rab came 2nd which is great given his recent injury woes (too late to swap chips?). 

After the usual post-race blether (consensus seems to be that most were happy with their run), and some very tasty home-made fruity/oaty cake, I elected to head home after my shower rather than hang around for the prize-giving.  The decision being largely based upon the fact that it was being held at the start/finish area, and I'd have to walk all the way back up from the school again.

But it turned out to be a mistake as Facebook later revealed that Stuart, David and I took first male team.  Hooray - DRC!!! DRC!!!  Andy A is kindly looking after our prizes until the AGM on Thursday.



RESULTS (at some point)