Piggy Plod, 2019

Last year we ran this in the middle of a heatwave.  Today was a lot more comfortable; warm, with a light breeze. We parked up in a field and after a dodgy moment when gravity caught the car door and bumped the mini next to us, we met up with Ali and Jo from the Hares, plus Dave, Tony and Di from OS.

With the Hares...

...and the OS crew

It was gratifying to have a good mix of twentieth-century music playing - no teenage DJs today.  (I love being grumpy about rubbish contemporary music).  After a typically laid-back briefing, we were off, straight up the first hill.  It was a fairly aggressive start, with half a dozen blokes rushing off ahead.  I didn't know any of them, and it was impossible to tell whether this was a flash-in-the-pan or a competitive race in the making.

1km in, and I was ahead, with mixed feelings.  Epic struggles in races can be magnificent and exhilarating, but in the moment it's easy to crave the peace and quiet of being comfortably ahead.  Against this is the continual lurking fear that someone has paced this much better than you, and is bidding his/her time, letting you do the pacing and waiting for the moment to strike.  This was the worry I was carrying, although the rational part of me knew that it was mine to lose, and when I looked over my shoulder the coast became increasingly clear.  The car keys were knocking slightly in a pocket and I imagined someone behind me and used this to stay focused.

The course is made up of two laps of long uphill and downhill drags on the headlands of arable fields.  The second lap was longer which was mentally quite tough.  There was super support from the marshals and spectators.  The lovely Mrs S and I crossed each other and had a wave at one point, and in the later stages exchanged greetings with the tail runners.

I enjoyed bombing down the hill to the finish in just over 40 minutes - over 5 minutes faster than last year, but there was really no comparison in terms of conditions.  Here are my stats.  I got a bag full of goodies and enjoyed cheering the rest of the gang home.  Everyone was on great form.

Good old White Star races - they're always great value.

Ali is the queen of the group selfie

Looking forward to the cider!