My first cross country race of the season.
Last year, I didn't have much luck at Hyndburn as I went over on my ankle and ended up in the St John's Ambulance tent at the end. I did finish the race though, however in a pitiful time of 37.18 (What?! For just over 5k? How muddy was it?!?!?!?!?), so I was really confident I could beat that this year.
I'm pleased to say that I did, finishing in a time of 32.05. Over 5 minutes faster! Really pleased with my performance and it's put me back on a high after my poor performance at Gin Pit the other week. I can't actually believe the difference because, even though I went over last year I didn't think it had affected my performance that much because it wasn't until after the race I realised I had hurt it. To any of my non off-road running friends just under a ten minute mile pace might sound incredibly slow but trust me, cross country is hard work, it's just mud mud mud and a bit more mud! Don't get me wrong, it's not an overly fast pace, I came 103rd out of 166 but you just can't compare it to running on the road.
Before the race I went back and forth trying to decide whether to wear spikes or not. Both Suzanne and Clare said that they always wear spikes for cross country but personally for me it depends on the course. The course today had a lot of running through woods which were full of twigs and leaves and these all get stuck in your spikes. After having a brief trial run in my spikes I decided to get back into my Mudclaws and I'm really glad I did now.
The route was pretty muddy (as usual at Hyndburn!) and twice I found myself jumping over somebody's shoe which had come off and been lodged in the mud.
After the race, Duncan and our mate Barry picked me up and we went over to Kendal to pick up our new T4 campervan. I drove it a little bit and practiced parking it down at the train station and it all seemed easy enough. Can't wait to go away in it. Anyone know a good place to wild camp in the Lakes?
All in all, a great day!
Total Distance - 3.21 miles
Full results http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2014/ml141.htm
http://www.strava.com/activities/211542978/overview
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