Thanks for all the positive posts forum-pals.
I have had the most fab couple of days in the hills. Did a 'Ruddles Rule' run up and down Sugarloaf on Friday with a DDG inversion to look at and then today took my walking chums on a superb 11 mile loop around the eastern Black Mountains followed by a slap up nosh in a local pub.
And yes, I did ruminate silently to myself as we sat drinking coffee at a point where I have raced past many times, imagining the straining and concentration of my younger self as it passed by in my minds eye. And yes, I did feel the acceptance. And the anticipation of new ways of enjoying the hills.

But nothing will ever replace that anticipation of a race.

Its going in a box now, with many other things, marked 'Great Memories of a Younger Self'.