Sherman cup 28/09/2013

This is the first cross country race of the season and was an absolutely cracking day with brilliant sunshine and no wind.

There was a good turn out from the club for both men and women and although I hadn't done much running since the great north run my hamstring seemed to be holding up and I was hoping to have a good race.

Normally this fixture is held at temple park, however this year the venue had moved to the fields beside tanfield railway.

I made my way to the start of the race, but I was only  a few metres in when I felt a ripping pain tearing through my hamstring (ironically not the one that I had previously injured).

I was hoping that it wasn't too serious and the pain would subside but that didn't happen and I started to think about dropping out.  I managed to keep going for a while at a reduced pace and decided to see if I could make it till the end.

Although there weren't any significant hills on the course there was a fair amount of undulation and the hard baked ground was energy sapping.

I managed to get round and finish the course without any further incident but my hamstring was very sore afterwards and I struggled to even walk.

Not a great start to the xc season but at least I managed to get round and was still in contention for the internal xc competition.

Great North Run Race Report 15/09/2013

When I got my race number this year and found out that I had a yellow/black number (fast paced club runners) I was chuffed as this meant I would be right at the front of the race and in with a/good chance of beating last years time.

Unfortunately my training hadn't been great since the Chevy chase so I had around 5 weeks to try and get some quality workouts in which I hoped would put me in a good position. Disaster struck on one of these as on the last rep of a hill sprint session my hamstring popped and I was left hobbling back to the office. This meant almost 2 weeks of no running before the race and a dose of ibruprofen to try and get me through it.

As you can see from the photo I couldn't have been any closer to the start and was almost breathing down Mo Farah's neck as he lined up in front of me.

As the race started my hamstring was sore but bearable and the first few miles went by ok. By the time I reached the end of the Tyne bridge I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable and it was at this point that Jim and Chris from the harriers went past me. I tried to stay with them but didn't have it in me on the day and I had too let them go.

By around 9 miles I was really starting to tire and slow down - mostly the result of not getting enough mikes in my legs before the race. My hamstring was getting sorer but not as sore as the pain that was now enveloping my feet - the result of wearing my racing flats which were half a size smaller than I normally get. 

It was around this point that Graham from the harriers went past me and again I couldn't do anything to hold on to him.

The last few miles were agony and I knew that I wasn't going to beat last years time, ending up about 3 minutes outside it in the end. 

Worst casualties of the race were my big toenails which went black and dropped off a few weeks of pain later.

Pretty dissapointing race, but again I probably couldn't have expected anything more on the day given the position I was in.