It's not the best time to let your mates down...having issued a 7am start time on Christmas Eve for a torch run up in Macc Forest to watch the sun rise from the top of Shutlingsloe. But within the first few steps from the car, I knew I was in trouble. Mind you, we were all in trouble. Pete had failed to sneak George out without waking his household. George can't help it, she gets excited. James on the other hand, he was carrying an accumulative hangover of some proportion.
But something was going on with my ankle and I couldn't keep up. It must have been something I'd done on the Friday. I'd taken a recce of the Club Handicap route down in the woods. I was really up for this race and spent some time reviewing the most efficient path I could. Cheating, Pete called it! I'd worked out I could jump all but one gate without the need for getting tied up with kissing gates and latches. There were a few with very close start times to me so I needed some imaginative tactics.
So as I write this, they are out there now...and I'm a bit grumpy. Bugger. But back to the Christmas Eve morning run, this was another one of those treats that is just waiting for you, if you can make the effort. It was pitch black as we parked the car down by the reservoir. Head torches on, we saw nothing of George, only her eyes as she turned round to see if we were still there. We went round the Forest 5 route, so up, up some more, then up into the woods, just as it was starting to get light. But we ran deep into the woods, thick mist illuminated by the torch beams. I lost sight of Pete and James as they ran ahead...until I caught them, stopped by a fully decorated Christmas Tree, in the middle of the dark forest, on Christmas Eve.
It doesn't get much more Christmassy than that. Bags of sweets there to take for the kids, and a message book. We couldn't get the pens to work. 'It restores your faith in humanity, doesn't it?' Pete asked. Once we got out into the open, we could see the top and signs that the sun was about due to rise. I could hardly run at all, never mind keep up with the boys. It was disappointing, but all that fell aside as we reached the top to just see the sun on the horizon. Bingo.
We probably had a 15 minute window from sunrise to the point when it vanished behind a murky grey cloud that would shape the remainder of the day. A flask of questionable hot chocolate, a slug of gin and Pete on the harmonica made for another memorable Christmas Eve run. As I think back, there is a feeling of warmth. Yet it was bloody cold with a biting wind. The hot chocolate warmed our hands, the gin warmed our souls, and the harmonica warmed our hearts. It's not that Pete 'plays' it as such, he more just breathes through it, but man, we laughed. And laughed some more. Then back home to last minute Christmas prep...and the revelation that I've done something quite painful to my ankle. If ever there was a time of year for running around, then it's now.
