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Ceres 8 is an eight-mile race with 545 feet of elevation. Most of the elevation comes in the first two miles... I hadn't run this before so asked Ron how to race it. He told me it was a tough one because you couldn't afford to overcook the first part but also couldn't afford to get left behind on the first climb. I think the bit about not getting left behind was me-specific. I'm not good at hills, at least not the going up part.  The weather was pretty much perfect for an evening race: 18℃, a light westerly wind and 64% humidity. Yes, my numbers obsession is getting worse. We had run 2 hrs 45 minutes on the Sunday and my Monday fartlek had been pretty sluggish (7.35 miles in 60 minutes) so I made sure to get in at least 1500 calories during the day. My morning 20 minutes was incredibly slow... The race started on the village green before heading out the back of Ceres and onto the long, long drag up to the two-mile point. Nicola Duncan disappeared ahead ve

The Fife AC midweek series includes five races with four to count. St Andrews 5K: a flat 5K on grass Strathkiness-Blebocraigs: an undulating, 4.5-mile trail race Hill of Tarvit: an undulating 5.5-mile mixed terrain race with a climb to the top of the Hill of Tarvit in the middle Newburgh: an undulating, 4.23-mile race overlooking the Tay. Balmullo Trail Race: a race over tracks to the top of Lucklaw Hill and back I wasn't yet well enough for the St Andrews 5K so needed to run the rest. Through the series I have been able to compare my times with 2011 (prior to 18 months of being too unwell to race). At Strathkiness I was 44 seconds slower, at the Hill of Tarvit I was 11 seconds faster, at Newburgh I was 69 seconds ahead of my 2011 self. So I was really keen to see what I could do at Balmullo. Balmullo was also the chance to secure first place in the series overall. I had to beat my nearest rival and finish in the top four to win. After 18 months off racing I had a heavy e

The last two (numbers two and three) of the Just Text Giving Fittest Fundraiser races could not have been more different. I took the train to Gateshead the day before and met up with Grant (JustTextGiving Fittest Fundraiser), his wife Helen and their friends Dave and Kate. I had to pick up my number on the day, which dawned cold and rainy. My warm up was perhaps a bit lacklustre and I got into the start pen a bit early. When we finally got going I set off too fast, not helped by the early descents. Hindsight is not a wonderful thing. Maybe these factors contributed to the mast cell degranulation, maybe they didn't. Anyway, my mast cells began degranulating and the familiar sense of dread overwhelmed me. I could feel my blood pressure dropping, my hands began to swell as the fluid began leaking from my blood. I was picked up by a man just before halfway - a friend for twenty minutes or so. He tried to encourage me to keep pace but I was beginning to get a bit disorientated. Th