roaches rush hour

today started as a nice local, gentle 17+ miler to get my weekly total up into the 50's

there was a temp inversion and generally all was quiet, except for the odd uncontrollable dog we came across..people of britain,please pop 'em on leads if they take no notice of your 'commands'. thank you. rant over.
anyway it was a nice little trot out from home along rudyard lake to leek, round tittersworth and over to the ....uh oh its the roaches race today! not for the first time have i ventured over here on race day (remember hayfella?)

anyway i scootered through meerbrook just ahead of the start and by the time i got up the field i could see the leaders coming up..i suddenly felt like a fox being chased by the much-speedier hounds..and i'd already done 10 or so miles and besides in a race like that i'd be a back of pack runner anyway
it was all about how long i could go before the inevitable of the front end whippets would come flying past

the leader popped by us just before the trig...then within minutes a gradual trickle continued on by

it was really quite strange to be amidst a race without actually being a real competitor

anyway here's the really crazy thing...17.5 miles here, largely run in mostly slimy muddy fields, took more out of us both than last weekends 28 mile run over stoney mountain trails..how daft is that!