3rd October Running to beat the deluge


There are many things that might force me to try and run a little bit quicker. Back in days of yore it was the challenge of beating fellow Bramhall Runner Joseph Connor whereas here in Nottingham it is trying to keep up with what are becoming familiar faces at local events and in particular my current nemesis who I shall call 'Elizabeth'. 

There is also personal pride and at least trying to come somewhere close to a previous time I have run on the same event. But nothing enourages me to get a wiggle on more that trying to finish a run before the torrential downpour forecast by Tomas Shaffenaker drops on my head. 

Welcome to the Curbar Commotion 2021,  an almost 10 mile jolly organised each year in aid of the local Curbar Primary School and which as you can see from the profile below cannot be described as flat

 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_39GbECvjJ0tYJJVvCh8_fEkgOG-OhIDyGamnzRUnqJf246JrY8hKLpA5fRWahTUmp4DAxeCpdEVm6AT6It-2LxO3mPti4N5PpiJ2uemztamN3EG3W2uDTv5t1V-KABc4R7xpkolSEje4/s1600/curbar+elevation.png I have run it twice before in 2018/9, slightly quicker on the second attempt, and so knew vaguely what to expect, even though I have tried to erase from my memory the feeling that I was about to die after the initial steep km climb up at the back of Cliff College. The other things that seemed to get wiped from my memory were all those extra hills and not so suble slopes that kept appearing just when I had convinced myself that it was all down hill from here.

Thankfully the ground under foot wasn't too bad, a bit boggy in places, a bit slippery on the rocks and generally a lot better that I thought it might be. But have I mentioned it was windy, and when I say windy I mean that special kind of wind that seems to be full in your face irrespective of which direction I was running. 

At the end of the day I was slower than the times I had run it before by 5 mins which I guess after an absence of 2 years I will just have to accept as an inevitable sign of old age. As for 'Elizabeth' well I was in front of her until the 3 mile stage after which, how can I put this candidly, I wasn't any more and it stayed that way till the end. So close and yet still so far away. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Still at least I finished before the deluge arrived...just. And that was my little victory of the day!


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