Sheep

Had a day out in Peebles yesterday for the Manor Water Hill Race. A 10 miler up a 2200ft climb. Just about the distance I have been doing on my mid week runs up Arthur's Seat recently so I was confident I would be able to finish it. Also I was attracted to this run as it was part of the Manor Valley Sheep Dog Trials. I've never seen sheep dog trials live...only on One Man and His Dog. There were lots of ruddy faced farmers around and Sheep Dog Trials is really an excuse to get the beer tent out and have a skinful. The raffle was well worth entering as 3rd prize was a black faced sheep. I so wanted to come home with it in the back of the Zafira but sadly my number never came up. I didn't even win the 4th prize of 2 dozen eggs! Lots of sarnies and cakes were on offer from the local ladies and a great atmosphere. Photo: One of these lucky fella's was 3rd prize. The other was 2nd...a meal for 2!

The race itself was also quirky. Registration in the back of a horse box and a bottle of stout for every runner and only £4 to enter!

This was my first hill race in a long time so I was a bit nervous, and listening in to conversations in the queue was no help. Last years winner was telling his pal how he had run & bagged 94 Munro's last year. Others just look like they have actually lived in the hills as hermits, sporting ridiculous beards and weathered leathery faces. The race started and it was pretty much a relentless uphill climb for 5 miles. I impressed myself by running a fair bit of it and keeping the walking to a minimum. I got caught in a battle to the top with some guy who I passed, then he passed me and so on for most of the race. I beat him to the top and after that I just put him behind me. The course was wet and the path was a sheep trail in the heather and bracken. To narrow for my size 12's so footing was tricky. With 2 miles to go I was passed by a runner who politely tried to encourage me by saying it was down hill all the way. Now I really hate being passed so late on and so I thanked him for his tip and then stepped up a gear and broke away from him again and beat him. I was 1 second away from catching another too, which made for an exciting sprint finish. 28th over all and happy with that. Back to the sheep. I was googling sheep dogs and here's a site that some might use to buy ingredients for a Nigella Lawson meal. Let's just say it does exactly what the label says! http://www.come-bye.com/index.php