Hordt 20km trail run

This morning's race was a nightmare - we had to drive through snow, slush and ice to get there, by the time we parked it was 15 mins before the start, and we still had to collect our numbers from the hall, which naturally was in the opposite direction from the start so our warmup run was there-and-back!
Snow and ice underfoot made for tricky going and after my fall yesterday I was a bit cautious. Strong bitterly cold wind blowing against us as we headed out on the 1st of 2 laps - oh joy, got this to look forward to when we come back round again.
The 10km that started before us had a huge field, but ours wasn't more than about 150 runners so soon after the start I was running quite alone, the faster runners having got away and the very slow ones way behind me. Felt very heavy and lethargic, and when another woman passed me I tried to respond but it took me about 10mins to get back in front of her. Kicked on from there and made it comfortably ahead of her through the halfway point and back out onto the 2nd loop. Only 1 water station but at least they had the sense to provide warm tea instead of ice cold water!

At the 14km mark I realised that far from having blown her away, the woman in red was gaining steadily on me again, but this time when I tried to push on I didn't seem to be making any ground, I was trying to run faster but there was just nothing left in the tank and my legs felt like lumps of lead. By 15km she had gone past again and this time although I tried hard, I couldn't respond - she is 11 years older than me and I don't think I've ever finished in front of her! Earlier on I did think perhaps today was going to be the day.
From there until the finish, I just kept repeating my mantra over and over in my head (Lance Armstrong said it - pain is temporary, quitting is for ever) but it didn't help me to go any faster, on the contrary I really folded over the last 4km, my 2nd lap was 14 mins slower than the 1st one! That's unusual for me, normally I run negative splits. My feet feel bruised, probably from all that ice underfoot.
Got a prize for age group 3rd, but didn't really feel I'd earned it. Feeling extremely tired and very glad that I cooked a casserole yesterday already for today's meal, so won't have to stand on my feet too long in the kitchen!
Mr.IW ran with Oz, and said he personally found it just as difficult a race as I did. Ozzy could go round again without batting an eye but he cheats, has 2 extra legs to share the load!
Sun's shining now and the roads have about dried out again, although there's big piles of snow everywhere else. I'm heading for a snooze on the sofa.

How can an M70 run 1:29 for 12 miles?????

well done Ironwolf. sounds like an interesting race, pity about the ice and snow.

thanks Jane - this one really took it out of me.