Rubix Chilly Hilly - first race of the year.

 When I ran this route at the end of last year, in the dark and the rain, I distinctly remember ordering some dry weather.  What we got instead was almost constant rain for the whole of January.  And this morning was rainy too - so I looked out my rainy weather running gear, i.e. normal running gear plus a water proof jacket that I know will annoy me within about half a mile of starting running as I will a) overheat and b) the rustling noise will drive me nuts!

I dragged a friend along to share the joy with me.  We arrived in plenty of time, parked, looked at the weather and pondered our sanity.  But we were there and seemingly nothing better to do than run 10 hilly and muddy kilometres before lunch time!  This was the first Chilly Hilly race, and it was organised by a good running friend of mine who had assured me that the Rubix in the race title did not mean we had to complete a Krypton Factor style challenge before we were allowed to cross the finish line, it referred to one of the sponsors of the race.

About 250 runners assembled at the start and were soon under starters orders.  In my memory, the start was a gentle downhill, but in actuality it was a slight upwards slope that very quickly became a fairly vertiginous climb.  Running the route in the dark had the benefit of one not being able to see just how much uphill there still was ahead, today the hills seemed to go on and on.  The 'paths' were challenging too.  So much thick, squelch, sucking mud that tried to pull shoes off with every step!  The downhill sections were no easy option either - one misplaced foot could spell disaster, or at the very least a bruised bum and a loss of dignity.  I kept repeating to myself that the first half was tougher than the second!


The marshals were friendly and encouraging - it can't have been much fun for them standing in the rain and wind, and there was only one point where I thought I might have gone wrong as I couldn't see anyone ahead of me!  At this point I somehow managed to lose a contact lenses which made depth perception something of a challenge, but I only had two more miles to go!  The camaraderie amongst the runners was great - chatting briefly as we slipped and sploshed around the course and soon we were nearly at the end.  A sharp left turn, down a steep hill and the finish was in sight.... but required a detour onto some rather lovely tarmac and virtually a full circuit of the finish area before we could cross the finish line. I threw my self across the line, just managing to bag a sub one hour time (59:59 -11th female) and hugged the race director before being handed my medal and a raffle ticket.    

The chilli, provided by RKdia Catering, was excellent.  Just what was required on a cold wet day!  As was the plentiful tea from All About Tea.  We stood around and chatted with friends while we waited for the raffle to be drawn.  We didn't win, but that really didn't matter.  We'd had a lovely morning, running in a wonderful country park, in awful weather, and getting a fabulous medal too!  I will definitely be signing up again next year!  Well done to everyone involved and thank you!

Now there is just the matter of getting rid of all that mud!

Saving the best 'til last.

Last night I did something I'd never done before.

No, it wasn't meeting up with a load of strangers that I only knew via the internet.  I first did that in 1999, obviously lived to tell the tale and made some some very good friends.

Last night I met up with a group of strangers I knew via the internet, in a forest, in the dark to go for a trail run.  Armed with a head torch, and accompanied by a friend, we arrived in the car park at Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QECP) in the pouring rain. I'd run at QECP before as it is the setting for one of the more challenging parkruns in the area, but I'd never run cross country in the dark before.  It seemed that the rain was here to stay, so after a few brief hellos and a head count (there were 12 of us) we set off.  We were led by Kiernan - who took us along the route of a race he is organising at the end of January - the Rubix Chilly Hilly.

The start, once we had run up hill from the car park to get there, was a gentle downhill, but that was soon to change, we went up hills, down hills that had become rivers in the rain, we slipped and ducked to avoid low branches.  At times we walked up the really steep bits and, at every corner, we stopped and waited to make sure that there were still 12 of us and that we were all still happy.  It was great fun. I am pretty sure that there were some stunning vistas from our run route, but it was dark and I was looking to see where the next firm(ish) bit of ground was.  It will be nice to come back in daylight and I've put in an order for dry weather!  The run wasn't fast - it would be silly to try to run too fast on such uneven ground in the dark, but it is the most fun I have had while running in a long time.

Back in the car park the runners dispersed fairly quickly.  My friend and I took rather longer.  She has a brand new car, so trailing mud into it would just be rude, and she was dropping me in Petersfield to meet Husbando and some friends for supper, so I figured I needed clean up a little bit.  Balancing on one leg in the light shining from the courtesy light of the car and trying to maintain as much modesty (dignity went out of the window a long time ago) I managed to change into clean running kit.  My feet were caked in the mud that had gone in over the top of my trainers, but clean socks and shoes felt fabulous.

Meeting friends for supper was one of those spur of the moment decisions we made while having coffee in the morning.  We made a couple of 'phone calls and soon there were 5 of us going for supper at Annie Jones' in Petersfield.  I'd been there twice before - once for tapas and once in the more formal restaurant.  I did have a few qualms when I discovered we'd booked the restaurant as, although I much preferred it to the tapas, I was worried that having one member of the group turning up half an hour later and looking like a drowned rat (there is only so much one can do in a carpark with a hand towel, a wet wipe, a hair brush and a can of deodorant) might be frowned upon.

But it was fine.  In fact it was more than fine.  It was excellent.  I had one of the best meals I have had in a very long time, in fact every single dish that came to the table was excellent, the waiter was attentive and helpful and didn't seem too put out by the bag of wet running gear I dumped on the floor under our table.  The company was excellent too.  We enjoyed a couple of bottles of wine, a fantastic meal and decided that we should do this more often.

All in all an excellent evening - a run that reminded me why I love running, and the company of good friends enjoying lovely food!  A pretty good way to round off 2015 really!