DALKEITH 10K

Wednesday night saw us set off for a bit of an unusual race.
A night time 10k trail race through Dalkeith Country Park. Obviously haed torches were obligatory.
We turned up with WAY TOO MUCH time to spare and spent about 40 minutes sitting in the warmth of the car, looking out at the rain and thinking “what in the name of ‘arse’ am I doing this for?”. Certainly not good physical warm up for a race and not the best mental preparation either.
However, as the race time loomed we got out of the car with enough time to give me a couple of miles warm up along the first part of the route.
The race was along pretty well defined paths and forest roads and was well marshalled and sign posted. The going was pretty wet (obviously) but to be honest the muddy sections were pretty scarce (though brutal where they did pop up).
The rain did start to peter out just before the start of the race, but the first mile or so of the race had us running along to the ominious sound of thunder rumbling away over Dalkeith.
I started slowly and then just concentrated on picking my way through the field. Running in a group with head torches on is pretty easy as you get the collected light. If you dropped off the pace however, or tried to break away on your own, you soon realise that even the best head torch doesn’t give full visibility and there is always a bit of trepidation.
My splits however would suggest that as the race progressed I either got more confident or was just that cold and wet I wanted back – quick.
Came in ninth at 43:54. I was pleased with that. I had no idea what time I was going to get (never having done a race like that before) but I had assumed I was going to be slower. As you crossed the line you got a sort of “till receipt” type ticket that had your time on. Sadly it didn’t include your position. Likewise the online results don’t have categories either – pity.
Still. These are minor quibbles for what was a great race. Something different.
Great fruit cake at the end – muckle big doorstop wedges of the stuff.
I’d love to say that the course was beautiful…but I couldn’t see a bloody thing!