Osmotherley Phoenix – Karen’s way of doing it – slow but get there eventually!
Well the weekend started well with gorgeous weather on Friday, I drove up to Osmotherley, found a place to park my van, on a hill with a fantastic view. Put my tea on to warm, took it off the stove a threw it all over the van floor – GREAT – fluff and grit mixed in with pasta and veg and all the yummy stuff I was looking forward to! Still it was all I had so I scraped it off the floor and ate it! No ill effects either!
Met heaps of people I knew at the start – all looking fit and fast. We set off at 9am and I was already wearing too much so stripped back to the t-shirt, which was great until it poured down not long after!!! My legs felt like rubber impregnated with lead but this soon faded to just plain lead after a few miles but then they kicked in and I felt good – for at least an hour.
I met a girl – who definitely needs to be on team “Run Like a Girl”, she asked me, after about an hour of chatting up hills, “is my mascara running?”, well it wasn’t and before I could ask I got the explanation – she was testing waterproof mascara – bloomin good test – sweat for more than 7 hours and get rained on for most of it too! She still looked good at the end too – maybe I need some waterproof mascara! Salty sweat staines round my eyes are just not the same! Umm nice image eh!!
Next up was the thick clag that came down, I lost everyone around me and carried on for the rest of the run (about another 2 hours) not seeing anyone apart from some poor bloke (well he was wearing a fluorescent yellow jacket and I pity all fluorescent yellow jacket wearers!). I found him wondering along muttering, I asked him if he was ok and he said yeah so I carried on. But I looked back at him and he was wonderin around so I asked if he was lost, he wasn’t sure, so I asked if he was doing the run, he said no but he’d seen no-one for ages. I said are you sure you are not doing the phoenix and he said yes he was doing the 17 miler. Ah at last I get it – he was only a few kilometres out on the 33 mile course!!! Poor guy – how had he got that far???
Oh yeah the Osmotherley Phoenix – was long, soggy and involved too much running but I made it in just under 7 hours and 26 mins having consumed lots of flap jack and fig cake (don’t tell Catherine – she doesn’t get figs!!!). That's quicker by 36 mins from last year - I have been quicker on every race so far (first one was only by a minute - but still faster!), this is something i did not expect - i am definately becoming a runner (don't tell my biking mates!)
Umm - me not looking my best after the race!
So that is 6 down and 6 to go – oh help me I need new joints!
Next race in 3 weeks time (Downland Ultra – 30 miles), one after that is two weeks on (Devil of the Highlands – 43 miles), then my extra of the CCC in France (just a short 66 miles around the Mont Blanc area – don’t worry not the whole TMB, I said I’d never do that again!) then week after that is Bullock Smithy (56 miles) and then two weeks after that the HP40, then two weeks later the Pumlumon (26) and then the final one is two weeks later and is on my birthday and is only 50 miles long (Long Mynd) – agh! So I will be mainly knackered over the next few months!!
