There are many occasions when you’ll arrive on the start line and wonder whether everyone is participating in the same event, such are the differences between the kit worn by the different participants. When I arrive at a road event, this doesn’t phase me anymore – I’ve done enough Marathons, Half Marathons, 10k’s and 5k’s to know what I need to be wearing. But today, I did have a few doubts. The event was over mixed surfaces, and whilst I was wearing road shoes, many others had opted for trail shoes. Many were also wearing hydration packs, where as I was carrying a single bottle of Lucozade, though I did manage to carry two gels and a Kendal Mint Cake bar in my shorts. Had I underestimated the challenge of the event?
One of the intriguing aspects of the event was that whilst the start/finish line was in a fixed point, we had choices in terms of how to get there. Once we got to the top of the hill for the first time, we could turn back and head for the finish, turn left, turn right or continue straight on. Each ascent of the hill followed a signed route, and when you got to the bottom of each approach to the hill, you were issued with a wristband to show that you had done the full hill.
The organiser suggested that there was potentially a fastest option, but having never seen any of the ascents before, I was going in blind. Well, almost blind. I knew that going left or right involved off-road sections, but straight on was purely on the road. There was the possibility of rain during the latter stages of the run, and whilst that ultimately didn’t arrive, I knew that it would be far easier running on wet roads than wet trails in road shoes, so I wanted to get the two trail sections out of the way before any rain potentially arrived.
The only question was whether to go left first or right. I took the left turn, though I couldn’t tell you why. Thankfully it turned out to be a pretty good choice, as there was a stretch of about 500m where even single file was tricky. Two way traffic would have meant a lot of standing and waiting, but I lucked out, passing nobody on the downhill and only having to briefly step aside for two runners on the downhill whilst I was on the uphill.
The challenge of the first ascent had been not knowing what was up the road. There were some very steep sections (the first kilometre had 88m of elevation gain), and even though I was obviously fresh, I played it conservatively and walked all the steep sections. Thankfully after the first ascent, planning my efforts was a little easier because we did the descents first before turning round and going uphill. That meant that I got a sense of what I would be up against, sighting the sections where I would need to walk, where I could run if I was feeling fresh enough to do so and where I could open up and push the pace a little bit.
The race format also meant that it was near-impossible to get a sense of where I was in relation to others. On the second descent (right from the top of the hill), I saw lots of runners approaching the top of the hill. Were they ahead of me or behind? There was no way of knowing, and to be honest, that was nice. It created a particularly friendly atmosphere, and allowed me just to stick to a pace I was comfortable with.
It was only when I was coming up the final ascent that I could get some perspective in terms of where I was. There were a few runners coming down the hill as I went up, so I knew at least I wouldn’t be the last finisher. I had hoped to run all the way up the final ascent and whilst that proved beyond me, I was able to settle into a decent pace on the false flat before the top, before attacking the descent for the first time.
I reached the finish line still unsure how I’d done. I wasn’t first, wasn’t last, but I had completed all four ascents, 650m of elevation across 23.77km in 2:14:19. The 1km walk back to the car park gave me the opportunity to chat to one of the other runners and find out that the Winter Series event is held on a shorter, slightly different course, and if they fit into my schedule I will definitely check that out. Before then though I get to enjoy the ciders we were rewarded with for each ascent of the hill!