Snow To Surf race.

Eric and me after his stage
he is still holding me up.

Me clowning around at the start of the race

        
Driving up the Mt Washington rd it got foggier and foggier and talking to the skiers later it was no  problem for them the ski trails seemed to be okay although they had to look out for the ice under the snow. meanwhile the
runners were waiting in a fog belt which kept our visibility to a  minimum and wearing my classes it was more foggier seeing my classes were fogging up, Getting the arm band from the skier went okay having to run up a bank through snow and other runners that were waiting for their skier. The adrenalin had kicked in and it was no problem getting to the first incline before a 7 k.m down hill run. I had no problem here my cadence was good lots of push of to get my stride extended a bit, and it seemed I was motering along at a good speed  I stayed away from the edge of the road were all the gravel was scatered and was running close by the white line, after a couple of k.m I realized that my turn over was way to fast for what I had trained for but I couldnt seem to slow down, the road seemed a lot steeper going down then it did on the way up and my legs  seemed like they were ready to get ahead  of me. I hadnt trained for this the most down hill running I had done was sitting on a stationary bike  doing speed work ,  which only lasted a couple of minutes not 25 min of hard nose to the stone running down hill with no stops or water breaks and  the odd time I would run down the lagoon which only takes a few minutes , no there is nothing like running down a hill staying upright and keeping your arms swinging in time with your feet turn over not trying to step in a pot hole  as you flay your arms-from side to side to  side, ah-hah missed an other dip in the pavement or a small rock which looks like a huge boulder as you come roaring up to it,  By this time my arms- hands were  getting cold and trying to flex my fingers to get some  blood pumping in them instead of just my legs  that were screaming at me to slow down, and I was starting to think how the heck am I going to get the arm band off my arm to pass on to the next runner if I couldn't even open or close my hands to tug at the arm band on my arm.  I slowed down walked a few steps I think, and passing  a corner I saw the pylons of the finishing chute   and started to  run a bit   Only to be met by Eric  asking me if I was okay ",Of course you-re going to say Hey I feel great even though you're ready to drop" He took the arm band of my arm and started to run his stage. I dont think I knew were the heck I was I just Know my guardian angel Gail took me to the finish and walked me around drinking some fluids  and I  warmed up , got the blood flowing through my body and I was okay again although the  next day I was pretty stiff.  I  Had a good run my lack of proper training and thinking it wouldn't be a tough run seeing it was down hill .. How hard could it be.. ------  was my fault, Sticking to a low impact training schedule and not putting in the proper miles and running a lot faster in a race then I ever do training, After all my running I should know by now that there is nothing better then training for your race  running the hills and trails If its a down hill race do your down hill running so that your  legs and body know how it's going to feel and you dont feel knackered at the end of your race. Our team did great, we finished 9 th out of 180 teams and first in our age group  and beat our closest rival  by a good 6 min  We Had our laughs and shared memories with friends  drank our beer and went home.