First midweek evening race of the year: the Higham Hill race, traditionally on the Tuesday after the clocks go forward, except the year the RO got it wrong, and we were wearing headtorches.
A fast start on the uphill track, then out onto the road, where plenty of runners passed me. Things improved after the first downhill; on the first footbridge over the railway, I noticed that two of the runners who had passed me on the downhill were going up one step at a time, so I shouted "Come on, two steps at a time", and proceeded to show them how it is done. They must have also had difficulty on the rather rough trod that follows the footbridge, because even when I stopped to re-tie a shoelace, they didn't reappear.
The rest of the race was fairly uneventful; I didn't manage to summon up much speed on the two big climbs (and had to walk the steepest sections, although that didn't seem to lose me any ground on people who were running). I haven't seen any results yet, but I don't think I made the top half of the results list: this race seems to attract a much higher standard of runner than the nearby Wingerworth Wobble. It must be something to do with race titles: "Hill race" vs "Wobble".
I had taken a fairly early train to Alfreton, and really enjoyed the cycle ride via the wonderfully named hamlet of Toadhole Furnace, and then a walk round part of the course, enjoying the fields full of celandines by the river Amber and the views to the hills on the east side of the Derwent valley. With the clear skies, it got very cold in the evening: cycling back to Alfreton, there is a lot of downhill, and I don't think arm-warmers or leg-warmers would have helped much; even with two layers under a windproof jacket, my torso was feeling rather cold.