At 9:30 last night, after half a bottle of rather lovely red wine, I suddenly remembered The Thing I Had Forgotten…. moustaches.  You can’t run a mo run without moustaches!

Luckily, this household lacks nowt it’s got on the crafting front, so I unearthed my felting kit, selected some yarn, and set to work.  “What are you doing???” asked a bemused Mr P.  “Being careful!” I answered, smugly.  “You don’t want to stab yourself with these needles. They’re sharp little beggars”… I smiled at him, reassuringly, and stuck all four needles hard into my right forefinger, as if to demonstrate my point.  There may have been swearing… “I should put my glasses on!” I concluded, stabbing myself one more time, just to reinforce the point.  There was more swearing.  And blood.  But a little while later, after I’d found my glasses, there were two rather splendid felted handlebar moustaches, carefully designed to match our running outfits, on elastic for me and my lovely run-buddy, Rae.

This morning was cold.  Seriously cold.  I wouldn’t let Mr P tell me exactly how cold (he later admitted it was -3!) as I slid into his lovely warm car with the heated seats and the personal climate control.  Oh yes.  I used my very best wheedling powers to persuade him to get up early so that we had access to the luxurious warmth of his car.  We left home at 6:45, to get to Rae’s for 7:15 so that we could be at Willen Lake, Milton Keynes for the opening of race registration at 8:15.  The race itself wasn’t due to start till 10:10am… that’s a *lot* of waiting around in the cold.

It was a slightly chaotically organised event.  There was a 5k and a 10k running simultaneously; on very narrow and sometimes icy paths around the park.  The 10k was two laps of the 5k route, which is always a bit of a worry – would we be able to muster the self discipline to run past that lovely warm car *twice*??

We did.  Just.  The route was far more ‘undulating’ than either of us anticipated.  Undulating, if you don’t know, is a dirty race designers euphemism for ‘bastard hills that we want to surprise you with’.  This one had a hill with switchbacks! It was like competing for King of the Mountains in the Tour de France… except running.  In the (did I mention?) cold.

But given the temperature, and the tight hamstrings and the lingering post-massage DOMs, I did respectably well.  No time off my PB – I completed in 1:08:44; but no stopping for a rest.  That’s a first in a race, I think! And no walking up hills – it’s amazing how quickly that hill training pays off.  And – the best first of all – Mr P waiting for us at the end with hugs and warm clothes and a lift home.

I rather desperately need my foam roller now.  Left hamstring and right glute are really suffering.  But it’s suffering well earned.  It was good to meet several RMR girls, and a couple of lovely people from On The Run in Aylesbury, too…. and lovely to spend an hour running with Rae who is always excellent, inspiring running company…  She keeps me laughing, striding out and focussed.  That’s a pretty amazing running buddy, right there… And she looks awesome in a moustache!!