Day 12: “76km done!”
By IanC on 21st August
Crossing the Dordogne and into the Auvergne, finishing with a fair climb to the finish in the city of Mauriac.
At 9am running through the beautiful town of Meymac the temperature sign outside the pharmacy said 21 degrees, 22km into the stage this felt ok. From then on the temperature rose fairly sharply as midday approached, to what felt like the 35 degrees that was forecast.
Running through the finish at 3 something this arvo filled me with both elation and relief and as I sat down an ice cold beer was thrust into my hand and a bottle of water poured over my head by one of the great race staff.
76km, propelled by “Nora B’s” legs, feet weighed down by wet road tar and 5 kilos lost in 24 hrs (liquid). Who said holidays in France aren’t fun….. 
Footnote - just looked at tomorrow’s stage; ’ hope my legs didn’t notice - the profile looks like the inside of a shark’s mouth, topping out at 1231 metres… what happened to all those fell runs I was going to do this year?! (Editor’s note: looks like they are all tomorrow!)
Local woman Clare Pearson from Skipton AC was delighted with her weekend win at the Dentdale Run on Saturday 10th March. Hard training over the winter months
Snow on the mountains this morning: my fingers numb as the cold penetrates the gloves, heavy breathing fogging my glasses as I work hard to climb the hills, big puffy pants to stop my legs freezing,
