6th July Winning at windy Winster (R29)


And no before you ask that wasn't the result of a baked bean burrito before hand. Rather it was the annual Winster Hill race, an inaugral part of the Winster Wakes festival. A 'lovely' little run only a stones throw away from TOM's and at only £5 an absolute bargain for what is a pircturesque 4 mile undulating jolly. It is a race I had done last year and so knew what to expect, only to realise that I actually didn't.

My first first of the night was to turn up to discover that I hadn't actually registered to run (I'm sure I had). Thankfully despite the run being oficially full the organisers were allowing entires on the day, even though I didn't actually have any cash on me to pay for it. There turned out to be 170 of us on the start line but unlike last year when the pace was a bit frantic I tried to hold back a bit and just remember to breathe.

It also happened to be rather windy so that on certain sections we were running straight into the full force of the gusts. But if it ensured that the shower of s&^% Tory government was completely blown away overnight then it was worth my added effort.

It is an undulating run, with some nice down hill sections, a lovely run across over fields and along trails but also one that contained unrunable several hills, one of which was split by a road crossing and I had completely erased the second bit from my memory. But it was a lovely summers evening to run and knowing it was only 4 miles meant it was quiet doable.

What I hadn't realised was just how doable, even after two weeks of cruising. Not only did I feel that I ran it better than last year, and thats always good, but I actually ended up running almost 2 mins quicker. Plus I came first out of the three Ravenshead Runners who were taking place which was certainly unexpected. Yes some of those hills required power walking but thats nothing new. Onward and upward to the Crich Monument Race next saturday

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