Carnethy 5 Hill Race

Whilst hugely popular the Carnethy 5 is probably my least favourite hill race. The large number of runners, the extra fuss of a bus to and from the race and the waiting about getting cold before and after the run are the downsides. The route itself is great and it is a nice distance. This time round the conditions were very tough with race starting just as storm Dennis hit. There was snow on the ground in place, much more water than usual, mud and very slippy underfoot. With the strong winds this made for tough conditions. By the first summit it felt like survival mode rather than focussing on race time. On the descent from the Kips it became clear that I was in the wrong shoes for the conditions as the lack of grip on the speedgoats meant I had to descend at walking pace and the going through to the Howe was so slippy that progress was very slow. I ended up with my slowest time ever by a large margin (1 hr 35 mins). Oddly I quite enjoyed the extra challenge of the conditions. I was pretty well prepared apart from the shoes and stayed warm during and after the race.