And then there were two…

Sounds like the Agatha Christie mystery doesn’t it? I loved that latest TV adaption of it. Or did I just love the fact Aidan Turner was in it? Never mind. I digress…

But you have to admit there is something a bit odd about running up a hill in a hailstorm in the dark. Normal people just don’t do that sort of thing do they? Mores the pity. I believe doctors are now starting to prescribe parkrun to treat depression so maybe more normal people need to run up hills in the dark. You have got to admit that having your eyeballs sandblasted by icy particles certainly takes your mind off workplace objectional fuckwittery woes for a while.

It did have the makings of a good (or bad) horror film plot as after about half a mile two of the group decided that this run was a seriously bad idea and disappeared into the darkness back to the car park. I wonder if they are still speaking to me as this little excursion was my idea and like many of my similar ideas it seemed like a good idea at one point. Just maybe less so on the night. 

This left six of us to tackle the mountain in the dark. Happily, we had mountain expert Jonathan to a) show us the way (I like to think I know my way round Bennachie but it looks so different in the dark) and b) make sensible suggestions about which direction we should run it to avoid running headlong into a gale force wind. We were in safe hands. Jonathan is a sensible chap if, indeed, the word sensible can be applied to someone who runs The Spine Race.

So then there were six. Jonathan guided us up a small track through the forest and then out on to the open hillside into the wind. Somebody, I am not sure who, but somebody uttered those fateful words “at least the rain has gone off” which clearly the weather gods took as a challenge and the hailstones promptly started bouncing off our heads. 

I trudged up the hill in Jonathan and Sam’s wake to eventually catch up with them just shy of the summit, cowering behind a wall of rocks. We re-grouped and went over the hill picking our way carefully down the other side as it was now a bit icy. By now the hailstones were really making themselves felt but this made for some quite arty photos and a weird strobe like effect on the eyes. I really had to concentrate running down the hill. There was a bit of discussion about the best positioning for a torch in conditions like that with both Sarah and Gillian opting to either carry theirs or to have it fixed to their bodies rather than their heads. Overall though it must have been a clear night as I could see the streetlights from the various surrounding villages when I peered out from under my hood into the distance.

At the next path junction it was decision time. Jonathan was all for a wee detour to take in Oxen Craig but Sam was keen to get back to the car where Lesley and Josie would be waiting. After a moments indecision the rest of us followed Jonathan. Well, we were up there anyway and it would have been rude to ignore Oxen Craig. And then there were five. Told you, it was just like the Agatha Christie story. I made sure that at no point I was the runner at the back of the group…just in case…you know, better safe than sorry…

Summit Photo (credit: Jonathan)

Oxen Craig was duly visited and Jonathan took the all important summit photo as by now my phone battery was dying in the cold then we quickly descended on to the Gordon Way following it back to the car park although I did half expect Jonathan to say something along the lines of “anyone fancy another lap?” when we got back. The remaining five runners made it safely back to the car park for the compulsory post run tea and cakes by which time I can only assume the other three were home, dry and having supper. One of them has been spotted on Facebook since then so I won’t worry too much. Although they might not be speaking to me.

Post run cakes. The options were Chocolate cake, banana cake and lemon cake