"A Forfar Bridie is a horseshoe-shaped meat product."
Its been said that racing can often get
in the way of training. A race dominates the weekend – on Saturday,
and your long Sunday run becomes a chore; on Sunday and you daren't
put in the miles on Saturday. I am trying to be a little more careful
about the races I sign up for. 2 years ago and it was quantity over
quality: 55 races January to December but by February 2012 I was crocked and last year had plenty of time to re-evaluate the important
stuff while I recovered from injury. This year I have been looking at
what I really want to do and decided to miss some of the regulars and
team events etc. rather than feel I have a responsibility to fly the
Porty flag.
Right at the top of the priority list
are long days out in delightful parts of the world (weather
depending) doing journey runs with good people, taking photos,
shooting the breeze. I can't think of any better way to spend time
off.
I was feeling in this state of mind as
Forfar Half came galloping over the horizon. I do like this one but
it is a fair old hike to get to and last night I was swithering if it
was worth the effort, especially as the forecast was for high winds.
It has changed from entry-on-the-day to
sign-up-online-before-it-sells-out. This is fast becoming the norm,
and although I enjoy the lo-fi informality often associated with hill
runs, - turn up on the day and hand over a fiver - I have a lot of
time for organisers taking the online route as it makes a large part
of race day less troublesome for them. And lets face it: they are
doing all the work. We are invited to their home turf and, for a
meagre £10, allowed to run a well planned, complex route around
their town with a marshal and markings at every turn and road
crossing, then treated to a banquet of food that would shame most
restaurants, and for those at the front a generous prize; and booze
for 1st, 2nd AND 3rd placed teams of
either gender. Now that's how to do a race.
I don't know how Forfar Road Runners
get away with the course. It travels along a path “liable to
flooding” and the pre-race chat is always about the water levels
(sometimes ice-topped). Emily allegedly went for full immersion a few
years ago. This year we received an email midweek advising us the
route would be detoured at the 6~7 mile mark (the watery bit) due to
Health and Safety. It was a surprise to hear talk of health and
safety as previous years have blithely disregarded any such pansy
notions. And the race is all the better for it. Apparently the icy
plunge pool was waist deep plus. However, we were reassured that
those wanting water would not be disappointed. True.
Angus and I were the sole Porty people,
Mary dropping out with her pulled rib muscle self harming thing. My
brother Neil is “on” in his on/off running career so was
designated driver for today. (Excellent work.) Early rise, but in no
time we were standing on the start line in weather that would be
described as Baltic if you were in shorts and vest and standing
still, but balmy if you were doing 6 minute miles on dirt paths round
Forfar Loch. There were traces
of snow and beards of ice round puddles but otherwise, balmy.
David Fulton (HBT) who is having a
blinder of a season, set the pace. An unattached slotted into second
place and I followed in third. Mile 2, 12.07. Local Brian Bonnyman
overtook during the testing mile of farmer's track awash with large
muddy puddles, some years frozen, today just deep and cold. By the
way he cruised past over the difficult ground I knew he would travel
up the field, but would he catch David?
As I went past 5 miles I wasn't
surprised to see 31.30 a couple of minutes slower than my best here.
The sodden conditions were slowing things. I was running with a
Garmin and watch. Not the camera today – too many hazards. I
thought things might speed up during 6 and 7 as we missed the
traditional swimmers section and took a couple of long roads round to
the crossing before the gated section. The gates clang and let you
know the distance behind of the next competitor. Billy G (Dundee
Hawkhill) had gone past around 5 miles, we exchanged pleasantries and
he moved in front. Up ahead I could see him disappearing into a stretch of water along the side of a fence. So deep he stopped running and
started wading. I jammed my fingers into the tall mesh fence to pull
myself along through the deepest bits. Did I ever say I have
recurring dreams in which I am using my forelegs I mean arms to power
along a run? Now while I'm not saying this is a distant memory I was
on all fours in a previous life, today was one of the first times I
have replicated the experience in a race.
I went wrong here last year (coming out
the third last gate) and took a long cut before the road back
into town. I had followed the two ahead without thinking. Today I
paid attention and crossed the dirt path opposite to go through the
(marked) 2nd last gate there and along and out the final gate. Back into town (how many “Welcome to Forfar” signs did we
pass?) then across the road and more undulating single track, wet and
slippy. Out onto the road and along to the hill between 9 and 10. You
can't see the top from below and what initially seems like a dead end
out the back of a cul-de-sac climbs steadily with several false
summits before finally you reach the alpine-esque summit with pine trees and snow and some sort of a monument, with a fine view North to the
Cairngorm Plateau, white peaks in the sun. I assume its north. I
assume its the Cairngorms. I had no intention of getting out my map
to check. On reflection, that would have been in my optional bum-bag
in the changing room.
Angus
Other Angus
These 3 photos thanks to Karen Campbell
I began to lose sight of Billy up ahead
except on the longer straights. I worried I may have been drifting
off the pace. I enjoyed the event considerably more from the moment I
irretrievably dropped third place and could race without obligation
to fight for bronze to the death. And the one behind wasn't
getting any closer.
A series of descents follows. In the
past I have been overhauled here dropping several places, probably
the hill having taken too much, but today I felt strong. Or at least
unchallenged. I could see the dude ahead and he wasn't as far as the
dude behind. And my feeling was I didn't stand a chance of catching
him. I remembered the exact spot where Davie Burgess said “we are
all feeling the pain” as himself and Crooky went on to race so hard
for the line from 2 miles out that Burgess delivered his
pre-race orange on the finish line. And last year young Ally went
past in the last field. Which, as a blessed relief, wasn't ploughed
but reasonable running.
Neil B
Out and down the street and past a
point where once Scott F led 6 or more of us (including first lady)
up a no through road as the sign pointing left had blown off. So I
knew to turn left but worried as I couldn't see the next right until
100 yards down the road. The adrenalin spike of alarm powered me
along the dirt paths and through the finish. Just under 1.26 which I
was thinking was quite slow until I found out the front 2 were 1.22.
And Brian did catch David.
I was first into the showers. While the
others were exchanging stories at the finish, I reckoned I had just
time enough to get washed and changed (before an acre of mud was
walked into the small changing room) and to get back out in time to
see Neil cross the line. Forgot to take pics of Angus, other Angus,
or any scenery. Defo no paparazzi prizes for me today. We were all suitably
impressed by a such a selection of soups. Angus took some photos of
the tremendous spread – really it was outstanding. About 5 or more excellent soups and enough homebakes and sandwiches to feed an army.
Also particularly good tomato-lentil-bacon and a spicy cajun soup
Well done Angus for capturing the important stuff.
And a very generous prize giving not
only vouchers to winners and age cats but all those team prizes. I
was given first over 40 which, apart from the winner, I was. It was a
nice compliment too. Big thanks to all the marshals – and there
were LOADS – who stood around in the chill. And all who make this
one of the best events in the calendar. Highly recommended.
Great write up, Peter - you've really captured the essence of the race. Thanks to you and Portobello for your continued support. Brian Bonnyman, Forfar Road Runners.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great race report - I almost felt like i had ran the race too! No such fear - I was nice and cosy in the kitchen :)
ReplyDeleteAngie Mackenzie (Forfar Road Runners)