The website classified it as "extreme", the toughest category for these races, and the weather looked set to be extreme as well with rain and high winds forecasted.
Once again I had to downgrade to the 10km, this time my excuse was that I am still recovering from a nasty bout of flu I came down with last week.
Julie, my daughter, who came down for the 10km was relieved I would be doing the same race as her.
To our surprise and relief we arrived at the start to find blue skies and sunshine. It made a nice change from the blizzard of my last race.
The race started on a forest path down towards the sea for about a mile and then it was a vertical climb that didn't stop for 4 miles. We were rewarded with stunning sea views at the top of the cliff, where the climbing eased a bit. At the checkpoint,at the highest point of the race, we were told we had run 5.5 miles and still had 3 to go but that it was "all downhill from here". (I spared a thought for Julie , who thought she was doing 6.2 miles but instead was 8 miles!) Good news about the downhill though, I thought! Until I saw the vertical downhill and all the runners I had painstakingly overtaken on the way up started overtaking me. I did my best to free fall down the hills and not think about broken bones, but still was overtaken by 2 women and lots of men.
I finished in 1:16 and despite the women passing me on the way down, I should still be in the first 10 women finishers. Julie finished in 1:33 and had great fun on the downhills - at least one of us enjoyed that part!
Then it was back to the car, a trek one mile up another hill, and Julie spent the whole walk up cursing the organisers for making us climb another hill to get to the car...
Great day out though, and yet again stunning views!
Sabine
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