There had been heavy rain towards the end of the week, but the weather on Saturday was much better, and the course at Cumbernauld was far less chewed up than it could have been. I had parked in a residential street near the course which turned out to be quite a popular option. The Garscube tent had just been put up by the time I got there and didn't look bad at all. I was on the second leg for the Vets' team, taking over from John Bell. We were 33 seconds behind our A team at that point and it didn't help that I lost a second or two pushing through a crowd of runners waiting at the changeover. I had decided on the trail shoes as the course was heavy in places, and set off quite fast. Climbing the first long hill, I could see our A team runner in the distance and he seemed impossibly far ahead, so I wondered if I would catch him at all. I was making up or losing a place here and there, but I noticed that occasionally somebody would overtake me at speed, only for me to go past them again shortly afterwards, which was fairly odd. After the last long climb I was definitely making up ground on our A team runner and passed him on the next downhill, between a couple of trees with a view of the finish, although there were still a few hundred metres and another sharp hill to go. I finished in 14:57, 46 seconds up on last year, and felt quite satisfied with my performance, particularly in beating 15 minutes.
Our 5-second lead over our A team didn't last very long, and although it had seemed we were in contention for a Vets' prize, it looked like not all the Vets' teams had marked their numbers accordingly and we had actually been 4th after my leg, ending up 5th. I was third fastest for Garscube on the day. Also jogged the mile to the school and back to get changed.
Average pace: 5:49/mile (for 2.57 miles)
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