Well today I was back at the Salomon Turbo X trail race and this time I was going to go for it!
I met up with Jim and Stuart from my club and we drove up to Mugdock, getting there in plenty of time. So grabbed a coffee, got changed and headed over to the start where I also bumped into Carlos from Park run and a few of Jim's hill running buddies. Last year I started right at the back of the pack and cruised round. This year we were about 10 metres back from the front. Jim and Stuart took off as expected as they are both 1.30 half marathon runners. I got into a pace I thought was not too fast, but comfortable enough to save myself for the good stuff.
This year the start on the paths felt a lot shorter distance to where it turns off and starts on forest tracks. I remember the burn which you dive in and out of and then it was really fun trails with a good mixture of light mud, steep up and downs, burns and bouncy grass. I liked this section more this year because it went in a different route meaning we spent longer on the trails. Then we turned on to the WHW just where the road crosses and headed down that till pretty much just before the Mugdock exit on to the main road. So it was a long stretch but it was quite nice breaking up the bits where you had to really focus on your footing.
So that was the first half of the race in the bag and time really was flying by. We turned right up the steep hill which was a hands on knees job. This is where my decision to wear my Inov8s paid off as you could see where people had slipped down the hill with the mud. Once on top it was great running through the forest trails again. Then we were back on a path and then I remembered the bit just before the Turbo X last year and it was like a river of mud. This year it was a deep puddle so mud must be more expensive this year.
The Turbo X started which is the most extreme bit on the course which took a while to get started and it was no where near as muddy as last year but it was still fun trails and when you got out of the forest there was some proper good muddy bits and also a mega steep descent which I tried to quick step down and ended up just sliding down it. That was the Turbo X complete and back on to normal paths to the finish. The route back was longer this year, but I felt really good and felt like I was flying. A lot of people were really struggling, some even walking. So I was overtaking quite a bit. The route also goes near the finish and you can see the visitor centre. Then it turns back and does another half mile loop. My garmin made it out as 11.15 miles but if you have one, you'll know they go a bit mad in forests so who knows what it actually was.
What I do know is I stopped my watch at 1 hour 38 minutes! So knocked 25 minutes off last years time. Jim and Stuart were both around the 1 hour 30 mark and both enjoyed the course. We picked up our quality T-shirts and I spent the rest of the day feeling drunk! I think its due to all the physical energy excerpted and the mental energy that goes into off road running planning not every step but quite a lot of them.
Overall even though there was less mud, it was, like last year, a really fun race. I just hope I remember the route so I can do it as a training run over the winter.
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