Running in Scotland for a change made for a really good Sunday outing. The "new" course was great - steep ups and downies; nice forest running, testing contouring and "that" bum-slide. I was knackered going up the runnable first field but as usual felt better when it got steeper going up West Lomond for the first time. A cracking steep descent off the top down to the stream checkpoint proved that my new Innov8 Mudclaws did their job. I followed a few Ochil runners along a good slanting contour heading down as soon as we could, which seemed to be faster than those who stayed higher for longer. In the forest I spied Swaz ahead but couldn't reel him in. After a few KM of wide track it soon got more interesting when it narrowed down to single track up to the monument and the water stop at Craigmead. It widened for the trudge up to East Lomond when we saw the front runners coming back down, always a bit of a dispiriting thing though you get your own back when you reach the top yourself! On the long run back to West Lomond I pulled in a few places and even felt pretty strong on the final short pull up. From there it was that mad bum-burning slide down the gully, wishing I had on lycra shorts or even better Manny's special slidy cut-offs. There was no real alternative to sliding, since as soon as you stood up and tried to run you immediately fell back down again. I managed to get the old legs going down in the fields and just failed to catch the guy ahead, coming in 6 secs over the 2 hours. A cracking race and a good day out with lots of fellow Westies.
Results here
Other Westies reports here
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