STIRLING

About bloody time!
Got myself off my lazy arse and actually went out for a race today.
Feels like ages since I had a number pinned on to my vest. The Stirling 10k - not a race I've done before and not one I knew very much about, to be honest. But it was picked this year as a "counter" for the club championship, so I thought it best to have a go.
Our entries didn't go in until the last minute, so they didn't get posted out to us. We had to go through a wee bit earlier to collect our numbers and our compu-chips.
Numbered and chipped up we tootled off with Ian and Ian for a wee warm up.
We met up with Karen, Theresa and Brian prior to the race and had a bit of a natter as we made our way to the start.
Ian S and me probably started a bit too far back, but there was such a large crowd it was fairly difficult to squeeze through.
Anyway.... it was my first race for a bit, the cold hadn't really left my system and I still had doubts about the old leg/arse combo - expectations were fairly low.
As it was I felt fine and, by the time I finished, what little of the cold I had still been carrying was either splattered all over the back roads of Stirling or all down my chin and vest anyway!!

I didn't see Stirling Castle - so here's a picture of Colditz instead (they look the same anyway)

I've never been one of those who can recount every twist and turn of a race, and every sight and event no matter how minute. So, instead you will have to do with an "overall impression" of the race.

1. Well organised.
2. A bit too twisty, turny and technical for my taste (most of the route seemed to be through small residential roads - with speed bumps and a 90 degree turn every few meters!!).
3. Not as windy as it might have been.
4. At least the rain held off.
5. And fookin' hard - definitely fookin' hard. By the time we got to the last km I was gasping for breath and most definitely had gone beyond my comfort zone!!

Got across the line in 36:42. So - happy enough with that.
Just glad to be back "out there", so to speak.

Off work tomorrow (Yeah!!). So I will, like the rest of the morally outraged majority, continue my vigil in front of the 24 hour rolling news reports to discover if there have been any more sightings of the Duchess of Cambridge's tits.