4 Musselburgh runners took part in this year’s Penicuik 10K.  The phrase “never again” was uttered a couple of times, but really, we’ll probably all be back next year, ‘cos we love it really – you should all come and join us!

Last year’s race was a great advert for Scottish weather, with sunshine, cloud and (for anyone finishing above 40 minutes) the extra treat of hailstones, torrential rain, thunder and lightning.

The weather for this year’s race was a bit less severe (just rain and a wee breeze) but the course wasn’t.
 
My warm-up consisted of running around trying to locate my car keys. Thankfully I found them and didn’t have to run the race in jeans and a dodgy hooded top, although I suppose I could’ve used this as an excuse later…?

If you’ve not run this race before, there is about 170m of elevation, a fair chunk of which hits you in the first mile or so. After the runners have been piped off at the start you’re soon at the first big hill (up Pomathorn Road). You then get a brief rest before having to contend with another relatively long uphill drag until mile 2. After this the route becomes what is officially described as ‘undulating’. From about mile 4 onwards it’s mainly downhill until the finish with one very short (but energy sapping) rise through a housing estate and back onto the main road and then on to the 300m finishing section, which was across a soaking wet grass track. This really tested everybody’s stamina and resolve – but by that stage I think we were all so tired that we simply plugged through it to get to the finish!

The wet weather meant that I finished the race with hands like blocks of ice. I even had difficulty picking up cakes at the after-race buffet - something that I rarely struggle with.
Alex clocked in at 42:24, I was happy with my 49:20, and Jean and Audrey both came in under the hour at 59:22 and 59:30 respectively.
Although it’s definitely a challenging 10K (I think it’s the hardest one I’ve run) this was the second year that both myself and Audrey have run this, so there must be something about it that keeps us coming back – maybe it’s the cakes?!

Incidentally, Alex set a new club record for the highest number of home-baked cakes consumed by an East Lothian runner at a post-race buffet, clocking (he claims) an impressive 12 items of cakeage  - beat that! Maybe we can add ‘buffet destruction’ to the league challenges for next year..?