One race and a lumpy lunchtime pootle

First of the Harrogate Road League races last night at Ilkley.  These are friendly (but competitive) inter-club races, hosted by different clubs with food and beer afterwards.  It's called the Harrogate and District League because some of the clubs are in the Harrogate area, and some (Ilkley) wish they were :-).

The Ilkley race is a mixture of grass (2 laps of the football field at the start and a length of the rugby field at the end, track (half way up the big hill it goes all gravelly) and road (the rest).  It goes up-tiddly-up-up past Middleton then down-diddly-own-down Carter's Lane.  I was still feeling Mallorca Miles in my legs a bit as we went up the hill, but knoew I had to keep going because I realised I'd sandbagged Hinsley again by teling him that "once it starts going down, that's it for climbing" - which, after we made a 100yd descent only half way up, I realised was bollocks.  Oops - Otley 10 all over again...

I was running a few yards behind Steve Coy and Henry, both of whom are around my standard, as we went over the top, so I must've been doing ok, particularly considering the monumental snot build up I was carrying in my nasal passages.  I was, however, passed by Mark Iley who I've beaten a few times, so my only conclusion is he must've been training!

Down the descent everyone else, as usual, seemed to go miles faster than me, with Henry, Mark and a couple of other Harriers drawing away to what was going to be an insurmountable lead unless they slowed dramatically.  Once we were back on the flat I decided my marathon stamina was going to come to the fore, and in truth I did catch three or four people, including Steve Coy about 100yds from the finish, and could probably have caught another runner but the effort of sprinting flat out on dewy grass wasn't tempting enough to move up one place.

The course was just under 5.1m, and a time of 31:55 was good enough for 28th place out of a field of 284.  An average pace of 6:19, which is pretty good when you think there's a 7:35 in there for the big climb.  Look at the cheeky little 5:23 mile coming down Carter's Lane!

Today's effort was slower, but still felt pretty tough.  The Herb and I went out at lunch, and did a route we've not done for ages - down to Bingley, through the park then up a long steep climb to the Harden road, before a drop back to the canal and the joys of 5Rise.  5.65m at 8:20 pace, with legs feeling a bit stiff.  Gentle parkrun with Lils, shortish bike ride on Sunday and hopefully a decent run at Rothwell on Monday - but I'll need to have cleared some snot out first!