An earlier start this year of 9.30am to avoid upsetting paying visitors to Castle Drogo!  Suits me though to get it done and home again by lunch time.  Still had an hour lie in.
Perfect weather conditions, no rain, wind or sun and hardly any mud underfoot either.  I set off at a steady pace and decided to keep it like that in order to be able to run ALL the hills.  The first hill came, which is the biggest and I managed to run all the way to the top past many men!! At the top it doesn’t even level out, you just go straight back down again, legs like jelly, I nearly went flying but stayed on my feet ready to attack the next two monsters.  Ran them but then the worst bit of the course which is flat but very stoney and uneven and very frustrating with ankles twisting and kicking my calves legs everywhere! Caught up the only girl in sight and over took her and headed up the last hill which my legs flatly refused to run, a jog walk was all I could do but everyone around me was in the same boat.  The steps were the last obstacle and i tripped right up them and landed on all fours but not cuts or grazes, picked myself up, brushed off the dust and headed in along the finish stretch with a 40second PB and finish 5th lady, to collect my ladies style T-shirt which actually fits.
The scenery in this race is out of this world and every year the course, although the same route can be so different depending on the weather.  The trees had red, orange and brown leaves still attached this year and if I ‘d had a camera would’ve made a fab picture.
Only three Carnies made it this year, Janet and Peter Drew, both with very respectable times.  Steve Wherry couldn’t make it this time due to a knee injury – not sure if he was more upset about missing the race or loosing his entry fee! LOL!
Donna