"It wasn't like this on the fucking video" Steve expressed on more than one occasion, implying he'd been lured here under false pretences. This was the south west coast of Anglesey, the 'sticky-out' bit to be precise, and we were getting proper battered. I looked at the video in question when I got home, and I think Steve had a point. But in all honesty, you couldn't beat it yesterday. Maxine even said it was "oddly awesome"...preceded with "what a nightmare, that was horrific, but..."
The wind was the issue. And the rain. And the waves and the reluctant to recede tide. And the sand, both underfoot and that which lodged in the back of your eyes. Still, we all went home looking a good 5 years younger, such was the effect of the dermal abrasion/face peel that a light sand blasting offers. Even the trees had a look of being recently napalmed. Not so much defoliated, more stripped! Yes, the environment and weather weren't at their most welcoming.
Still, my other option for Sunday would have been to run the Macc Half. Although I heard good stories from that race, and some great performances, it was all about the times, pace, strategies. No mention of fun in Macclesfield. We had fun, a lot of fun. In fact, we were accused of not taking it seriously. I'm not sure how you could have taken on this race in a light hearted indifferent manner, but we had an agreement before we started. Not racing today...running for fun.
We were constantly berated for talking too much, and me taking too many photo's. Camera's broken now, by the way! Sand. Yet we ran solidly as a 4 all the way round, picking off stragglers, each of us gaining a place, chuckling at the fact they'd just lost 4. No one came past..and if they attempted, we'd engage them in chat until we dropped them. Teamwork. The Anglesey Trail Half Marathon was sold to me by Jason who, you may recall, said "c'mon, it'll be fucking great". True, it wasn't how it is in the video..it was better.
