Ronde Ceretane 20Km

7.15 the alarm goes. I look out the window. Clouds. Great. Today is the 35th running of the Ronde Ceretane, a 20km hill run in an adjacent village. 8.45 on the warm up track, the clouds are breaking up and the temperature is 22c. I hear Emily shouting “get some strides in, get some strides in”. I duly oblige. 9.25 not a cloud to be seen and now 25c. The music and the crowd at the start are in great form. The first km is gently downhill. I hold back knowing from previous that the 3.5km hill is next. It quickly becomes obvious that doing 600’s and 800’s round Bushy is not quite sufficient training for running up hills. I struggle to the top. Judith by this stage is well out of sight. On the downhill I am frustratingly passed by those I bravely overtook on the uphill. As I complete the first lap I am lapped by 3 African gentlemen crossing the finish line. Commencing the hills for the 2nd time the heat takes its toll and I rapidly loose the will to run. I need Val’s encouragement! Negative thoughts like why am I doing this when I could be sitting having a grand crème in the local café, flash into my mind. I struggle to the finish where Judith awaits me with a welcome drink. She had had a great run improving her previous position by coming first in her catagory. Somehow I feel I won’t be collecting too many more Ronde Ceretane tee shirts.