Ice Breaker BruceWhen he'd asked me back in September it seemed like a great idea, but turning up on the day in the sub zero temperatures I wasn't so sure.<P>
I had driven down from the Lake District the day before, and was glad that snow arrived after I'd left, although I'd love to still be there as the pictures I have seen look amazing.<P>
Arriving at Longmoor Army camp I met up with Ed and we caught up and joked about how cold it was. We got ready for the run, there were lots of people wondering around in shorts and t-shirts or running vests. It was -2degC , there was no way I was wearing anything other than full tights and longsleeve thermal, hat and gloves. Ed was of the same opinion, we were never going to win a fashion award, but at least we were warm (ish).<P>
There were about 2000 people taking part in the event on Saturday alone, and about the same number for the next day, and I suspect the vast majoirty of them had no idea it would be as cold as it was when they signed up. Ed and myself went for a wee warm up jog and checked out a section of the course, which seemed to consist of hills and soft sand, it didn't look like it was going to be an easy race at all, not that I expected it to be with the name of the race!
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Lining up at the front of the mass of runners there was some good chat between us all, and then we were off, running after a quad bike, with all sorts of coloured smoke billowing from the back of it. It might have looked great, but didn't sit in the lungs very well. The pace was lightning fast, and I knew there was no way I could hang onto the front runners, so settled into my own pace and chatted away to some of the other guys around me.
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The first few km's were easy going, fast track and gentle hills, then we hit the rougher stuff, hitting hill after hill, both up and down, often one after the other. It was here that I pressed my advantage, and 2 of us broke away from the chasing pack, slowly closing the gap on the 3rd placed runner. We battled hard and the hills were relentless, and it was starting to take its toll. I'd glance at my Polar heart rate monitor at regular intervals, to see how long we'd been running and to see how high my HR was. It never seemed to be below 185bpm, which indicated, as I felt, that I was running almost flat out.
SleepMonsters
