PORTOBELLO BEACH RACE (2)

By Tiff, Alison and Vikki

Vikki, Alison and I jumped onto the hottest bus in the world and set off toward the blue skies and sunshine of Portobello. My WERC hoodie was quickly abandoned as the bus heating appeared to be broken, but we used to our advantage as part of our warm up! 

We were welcomed to the primary school for registration by Mandy's dog Rory who recognized Vikki immediately, quickly followed by Mandy herself. Arriving in the hall there was a "look out- here's the enemy" from "Coach" Mark from PRC who then proceeded to tell Vikki off for elbowing him out of the way at the mile relays in the Meadows. Of course we know that Vikki would do no such thing.

Our race plan was simple, run to Joppa, do not stop to tie laces (new elaticated ones), wave at my pal Helen and her mini schnauzer Piper, run to the cat and dog home, pick up maybe one or two cats and a dog each and then finish! And eat lots of home baking. Possibly a bacon roll. Then pick up all of our raffle prizes and perhaps get signed for a modelling contract. And obviously pick up Mandy's prize for winning the v60f category. 

This mostly worked! It was a lot harder than you'd think - 4 miles,   but the surface kept changing from nice flat hard sand to the ridged stuff with puddles and then some proper splashing. My trail shoes with elaticated laces meant I ran a much quicker race than last year. Win! Helen and Piper were excellent at support and got some great photos. The turn at the cat and dog home meant turning from a nice cool breeze into baking hot sun making it impossible to carry the planned adopted cats and dog and then it seemed a lot further than I remembered to get to the finish line. I managed a small sprint with Vikki at the finish and then spent a couple of minutes trying not to be sick in the sand. 

We spent some time at the finish line chatting with "Coach" Mark, posing for our potential modelling contract, cheering on the rest of the runners and collecting Mandy's prize as planned. We met up with Pauline, collected our belongings and then bought a bag full of cakes each from Slav whom I had chatted to last year. A coffee and a sausage roll with Gordon and Fergus at the Beach House and we were DONE! Hurrah!! No raffle prizes though. Next year.

All in all a fabulous day, made better by the great company and amazing weather. I have aching limbs, sore cheeks from smiling and a rather hot forehead from slightly forgetting the suncream. If you're thinking of doing this race next year DO IT!! Highly recommended - PRC could not have been more welcoming or inclusive despite the ribbing we got on arrival!