The instructions said HTT, and so it was – only the signage wasn’t that clear! I replaced one of the signs, which happened to be over a circle check that I didn’t spot at the time! Robin Banks was coming back from a pre-run scout when I parked the car and the run site was familiar… Before we set off there were many comments about a god awful run that I had set from the same run site – made famous by Suckit’s splash “YOU SUCK!”. Let’s hope Greasy had something better in store.
We ran back up to the road and my legs felt like crap. The first circle had us spread all over the place. Brown Finger had ran straight past the powder and needed Robin Banks to call him back and explain how powder works. It seems someone had cut the grass or something which meant the powder was hard to spot until the next circle. I got lucky and from there on it was very well marked. We headed away from the mountains (YAY!) but at each check the temptation was to go back towards the hills.
We crossed the 5km running track and headed into the construction site with everyone pretty much together. After some deviations we hit the circle check that finally defined the run. It was in a creek bed and had the entire pack scattered. I paddled my way downstream for someway, while Semen Soars paddled upstream. Most people checked further into the construction site, while only Skid Mark checked up a tiny hole the other side of the creek – when he called On-On I ran back to the hole and crept up followed by Ho! (Good to see Ho! back!). Semen Soars had found another way and was also running along. Meanwhile behind us Mr. Poo, Brown Finger, Dog Shit, Graven Image all got back to the river, but couldn’t find an easy way up through the stickers getting ripped to shreds behind us.
Up front I caught up with Skiddy and he inexplicably asked me to choose which way to go at a check that we both knew which way to go. I guess he wanted more exercise – I just wanted the beer! It was along the bottom of the hills and back to the A bucket with some circles that just weren’t going to fool anyone who has run at HTT before. We enjoyed a beer or 2 while waiting for the usual FRBs to get back. The circle was friendly with some good food. All in all, a good workout! Cheers Greasy!