Race the Train - Tywyn
Several months ago I entered Race the Train - a fairly iconic race among the running community. The format is quite simple, you run a challenging 14 mile cross country course and aim to beat a steam train on a narrow gauge railway. This is not the sort of course that will result in a pb, so priority one was just to enjoy it but second priority was obviously to beat the train! I was expecting to be around 20th to 30th, but hopeful of perhaps 10th at best judging by previous results. After a 3 hour drive to the race centre I arrived to a far from pleasant August Saturday. The forecast was heavy driving rain but also 40mph winds - the forecasters were not wrong! I knew the race was tougher in the second half and we would also be running into the wind at that point as well. As a result I made the decision to take the first half of the race fairly easy and to start going full gas in the second half, well that was the plan anyway! I tried to stay as warm as I could at the start and