I headed over to the East Linton Gala Day today for the Traprain Law Hill Run. It's only 700ft but quite steep and then throws some flat bits to make it a 6.5 miler. There is a river crossing too, and on a hot day like today it was tempting to bathe and slurp a few mouthfuls. I'd set my sights on beating my 45 minutes time. But as it turned out I was going to be nearly a minute over. Shame as I felt I was running faster and harder. The hill was hard and it is one of the few times my legs were burning. The flies were awful and great clouds of them added to the chaos of my run. However, being passed by the leading woman (Megan) made me work harder and I got her on the down hill section. I was looking over my shoulder thereafter keeping an eye out for her return. I hate running like that when you know someone is just behind you. I really have t work on keeping my cool. Horrible feeling and one I was trying to pass on to the bloke who was 2 ft away from me for the last 2 miles. Sadly he pulled away and ripped me at the last 200m. So a pretty crap run really...over my time and not even a sprint finish to nick someones place. I think I came 19th out of 73. Must try harder and work on those hill runs a bit more.
