As I mentioned in my blog on this race last year, this is a great race, one of my favourites, probably because it’s not at all serious and is just a really good laugh. The majority of runners get on board with the fancy dress which makes it such good fun and has everyone in high spirits.
I had planned to wear an elf outfit for the race, however Suzanne and Lindsey had kindly made outfits for all three of us – the three wise women. Goldie, Frankie-no-Sense and Myrtle. I was Myrtle.
I only had a very short warm up and decided to run up the start of the route and back down again. I don’t remember the hill being so steep last year!
The race started a little late but we set off at 1.10 and I was laughing from the start. I was running amongst four girls dressed as stars who kept singing Christmas carols all the way round. They definitely kept me amused which was great because I wasn’t really enjoying the first couple of miles. It’s al up hill and I was feeling a bit sick and lethargic.
Once we got into the woods though, everything changed and I came alive and started really enjoying myself. As usual, there were huge puddles and very deep muddy sections and you can really tell the road runners from the fell runners at these points because the road runners all scream and squeal and try to tiptoe around the mud whereas the fell runners just plough through it, soaking all the roadies as they pass (sorry to the girl I covered in mud!).
After a loop through the woods it was back down again and I knew the way back was all down hill so I really let myself go and tried to make up for how slowly I had come up the hill.
(I appear to be gurning a little in this pic!)
I passed quite a lot of people on the way down and was really pleased with myself. In the end, I was about 25 seconds slower than last year, but the terrain was worse and there were also quite a lot more runners around my level so I had to stand around waiting at gates for people. This was backed up when I looked at Strava later on as my moving time was faster than last year but the elapsed time was slower so it must have been due to me hanging around at gates.
Who cares about times anyway, it was a fun run and I definitely had fun! Same again next year!
As usual, the prize giving was hilarious as winners were given the choice of gambling their prize for a pick of twenty envelopes containing up to £50 in cash but some just had fake money in them. People who decided to gamble were met with chants of ‘greedy, greedy!’.
Lindsey was second lady and Suzanne won her age category. There didn’t seem to be any team prizes but we wouldn’t have won anyway, however would have been second.
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