Rudyard Lake

Summer Series – race 8 of 15

Charlotte, having had a rehearsal at Bowdon made her second coming official. Sarah is debutant of the year already having quickly reeled off seven races. She has been frightening Trevor over the fells recently, today she was inhibited by a stitch but has made the mug and the t-shirt.

Louisa didn’t quite match Bowdon but did enough to make it worth getting covered in mud. Angela, like Charlotte, proved she doesn’t just do BBQs with her second race of the Series.

Roy is my early warning system. The new runners putting his past glories into perspective a couple a months before showing that my decades of running nous counts for nothing against the vitality of youth. Today he kept enough ladies behind him to preserve some dignity although he couldn’t hold a Cat inspired by the pipes.

Catriona does not do miserable, which is fortunate, because there’s a fair amount of misery in her running in recent months. Bowdon suggested she was coming out of it and today she was overjoyed at her best run of the year. I know Mike comes for Cat but he always finds the right place to encourage when you need it and after working from start to finish at the BBQ he deserved an evening out in the pouring rain. As I left the Royal Oak, Catriona was tucking into a significant dinner.

Our disposition at the pub; 1 & 2 around one table and 3, 4, 5 on another reminded me of the army cadets in my youth when we were seated by rank.

Sarah Waite, on her debut, had Steve Russell pacing her round. Steve’s a good coach with the knack of making people run faster than they thought they could without pushing them too far. He continued his protest, I can’t now remember what it was about, by not running in his Wilmslow vest. They tussled with Owen but in the end he edged-it. With no Amanda or Penny it is difficult judge how well he ran.

It was important for John to beat Owen and it keeps in contention for the 4/5 title.

This was also an important race for me, I’m told the Gun Run starts with 3k uphill and finishes with another 2k climb, so I’ve already kissed good-bye to Penny. Thereafter all the races are at least 6 miles and a number have hills, Rudyard could well be my last 4/5 points of the Series. I planned to take advantage of the flat 2 miles, hang-on up to the keep and then push it to the finish. My plan had been aimed at Penny but she was apparently suffering from a mixture of cut knees and altitude sickness. The threat would come from John, who had beaten me over a not dissimilar course at Cholmondeley.

After a sensible start I was immediately in trouble. It is eighteen months since my heart was a problem in a race but it started to ‘flutter’. I slowed trying to regain control of my heart-rate, knowing that if it surged I would have to drop-out. I was waiting for the rest of 4 to come passed but did not seem to be losing too much ground to Jamie and David. The downpour provided a welcome distraction and as we rounded the end of the lake not only did the rain slow but my heart-rate stabilised. I dug-in for the climb which was less testing than I had remembered; it was good to hear the piper still playing.

However, my pre-race ambition had evaporated and I was content to simply hold my place. The keep to the café seemed three times as long as I remembered and  with a lot more uphill, but finally, after two false dawns, we dropped down to the dam. Back by the rail-track I ran with more vigour which suggested, at least in the second half, the problems had been in my head not my legs.

The stats said my wonderful run at Roaches was not so wonderful, so what will they make of this somewhat anaemic performance. I warmed-down with Kate, she like me had achieved a satisfactory result but her run had also brought her little joy. 

So on to the Gun Run.

Ian Ashcroft.