No tussocks on the Osmotherley Phoenix, what a relief, a race with no tussocks, peat bog, or any other trip hazards the Run Like a Girls crew seem to find everywhere else!!! Alex and me (Karen) did Osmotherley at the weekend and I think we were the last runners in on the 33 mile route (along with a very nice man and his dog we helped route find); the walkers were still behind us though, so we weren’t last! Our mate Spyke did it in 4 hours 36 (a new course record) and we took 8 hours and 2 minutes, I think we are getting worse!!! We would have been a bit quicker if I hadn’t fallen apart 2 hours from the end. I stupidly went and ran for 8 hours in the welsh hills a week before and completely trashed my quads coming off the tourist path on Snowdon at the end of the day. This hurt! And my legs hurt till just before Osmotherley. But at least it is all good practice for the hard surfaces and big down-hills we will get in the Alps on TMB. So in typical Run Like a Girl fashion we sprinted in to the finish and then went straight for the pub, had a chip supper and went home for more wine, all good recovery foods and drinks!! Well it worked cos our legs feel great now! What would have made the day even better would have been slightly less downpours and slightly less water logged ground but at least we had some sunshine, something I’d forgotten about!

We also have some more news; we have a new member joining the team. Kath from Macc Harriers has joined us for the MUC events, she is faster than the rest of us so we won’t be dragging her backwards, she’ll be out running ahead of us in all the events. She is also doing TMB and has given us lots of tips etc on training as she did it last year too. So there must be something good about the event if she’s going back for punishment.

Catherine, Alex and I are off to Chamonix at the end of the month to walk the TMB route, so we will either be then dreading the event or thinking com’on bring it on! Better be the latter!!