Shibdon pond xc race report 17/11/2012

I went into this race still injured from the Cramlington race and xc training session the week after so it was never going to be a great performance. My hamstring hurt just walking so my plan was to try and run round comfortably and not make the injury any worse.

Because of this it was a pretty uneventful race, my hamstring was pretty sore all the way round but not sore enough to stop me running and didn't seem to be any worse  after the race.

It was the first time I had ran the course which is very short, flat and fast apart from a small hill you do a/few zig zags on.

Probably the slowest I've ever ran a race (i was 211th out of 460) , but at least I was able to race which is always a good thing.

Cramlington cross country 27 oct 12

First race of the cross country season and the conditions couldn't have been any more different than the last race in prudhoe back in march. Back then it's was breaking 20 degrees with sunny blue skies. Today the sky was pretty clear but temperatures were a lot lower and the abundance of rain (and overnight snow) in recent weeks resulted in the muddiest race I've ran so far.

The snow had melted by the time the race started, and there was an impressive turnout on the day.

After finishing 31st at prudhoe my aim was to try and break into the top 30 and make it into the medium pack. Even though I haven't ran much since kielder I think I'm still in pretty good shape so I thought I was capable of getting there.

When the race kicked off I made my way as close to the front as I could and felt pretty good for the first lap. Although certainly not a flat course, cramlington wasn't as challenging as wrekenton and didn't have the prudhoe hill. As Keith from the harriers said to me though at prudhoe all the courses are hard when your pushing hard which I felt I was for the whole race, and as the second lap went on I started to feel the effects.

Counting the people in front of me at this stage I was in around 25th place. I knew though that I would be overtaken by medium and fast pack runners by the end so breaking top 30 would be a difficult task.

Sure enough as the third lap unfurled I started to be overtaken and was slipping down the rankings. In a race I always think it gives you a psychological kick to overtake runners in the latter stages of a race, so it is a bit disheartening when this happens but I try and use this as motivation to run faster and keep ahead.

As the end of the race drew near I was feeling pretty tired and regretting the wine I had drank the night before, but I managed to put in a final sprint to overtake another runner on the line and finish in 38-23 in 41st place (out of 425 runners).

Even though it was disappointing to not make it into the medium pack again I only missed it by 17 seconds so that is my goal for the next race.