May was concluded with The Ilkley Trail Race.
A popular, 7 mile, bank-holiday jaunt upto the moors on the less famous northern side of the town.
It was an interesting race for me. Perfect race conditions. Damp and overcast. My legs felt amazing having benefited from several days of proper rest. But my aerobic capacity was definitely restricted by the 3 pints of ale I'd consumed the previous evening. Such are the compromises in life. The
Abbeydale Deception had been on top form. So no regrets.
I was 4 minutes slower than 2 years ago but still had a satisfying run. I 'd probably had a really good winter of running back then. Whereas this past winter was virtually cancelled. So no worries. I'm starting from alot further back.
And it was just what I needed as a sharpener for my first 'A' race of this current ..... not sure what to call it. Season? Struggle maybe.
And so into June.
The Bronte 5 is a perfectly packaged road race. Starting in Haworth village it takes in two laps of Penistone Hill before finishing in the cricket club. Whence
Gooseye is served from the clubhouse with a prominent aspect overlooking the Worth valley.
There are many flavours of tarmaced topology in this race: flat, draggy, undulating, steep ascent and steep descent. So you're constantly having to adjust the throttle and recalibrate your effort. Always uneasy about whether your race will finish on the line; or if it will start to die a slow and agonising death with a mile to go. It's knife-edge stuff. And I think this is what's so engaging about running a race.
It was my 6th outing and the slowest I've run. But again, the numbers didn't diminish a rewarding run where I ran hard and paced things well. And having had a dry week to put me in a better place the post-race ales tasted magnificent.
The evening also incorporated the Yorkshire Vets 5 mile Championships. I've had Silver in the MV45 before. But tonight I was the 8th MV45. Oh well, next year I'll be an MV50 so hope springs eternal.
I'm also starting to get some miles in on the bike. Although in truth I have little choice in our house. The missus dragged me out on my day-off last week. We headed up to Bolton Abbey then made for the flat roads heading out to York and ended up doing over 100 miles. At least I got to put my feet up at work the next day.
Next stop
The Hawkswick Dash on Sunday. And we now have a Labour MP again. Happy Days.
