Happy New Year! Long before anyone had made any new year's resolutions, I had signed the children and myself up for the Great Winter Run. It's the standard 5k round Arthur's Seat, and we've done it once or twice before. The weather was not with us, with 30mph winds and snow flurries descending from a grey sky. Still, I set off with 2000+ other hardy souls and managed 24:29, a minute slower than last year but still under my 25 minute goal.
Just as I finished the 5k, the heavens opened and the sleet started to fall. The "proper" cross-country runners looked properly cold, miserable and fragile and they slipped and slithered through the mud.
Helen, Holly and Louis turned up in due course, and we timed our arrival at the Junior Run just in time to get the last of the warmup and then set off. Holly ran alone, Helen ran with Louis and as they disappeared uphill into an arctic headwind (the Met Office said "feels like -4") I sheltered behind a TV van until they returned.
Which they did, sooner than I expected. Holly arrived first, put in a good final sprint, and finished the 2.5k in 13:27, the 15th fastest girl in her age group. A short minute later, Helen and Louis rounded the final bend, putting in another good sprint to finish in 15:50, lower down the rankings but completing the distance for the first time without stopping, and as one of the youngest running.
Both were rightly pleased and proud to have finished on such a tough day.
We headed straight back to the car and home for lunch, pausing only to marvel - again - at the "proper" cross-country runners, caked in mud and wearing only shorts and vests...
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