After umming and ahhing about what shoes to wear for this race – spikes or fell shoes – I eventually opted for the spikes, based on another Horwich Harrier betting me I would do much better in them. I was a bit worried about wearing them because I have never worn spikes before and was concerned that the lack of support/cushioning in them would make me end up injured.
Today was full of highs and lows really and I have had a lot of mixed feelings. Let me explain.
I had a good start and felt quite comfortable on the first loop round (the ladies race consisted of two large laps). It was quite a short but tough race and was very muddy underfoot in places and I did feel like the spikes were of benefit as I felt much lighter on my feet and didn’t find the mud as hard to trudge through as usual.
Just after the first lap, one of the Horwich men shouted ’26!’ to me as I passed so I thought this meant that I was the 26th lady, somewhere I have NEVER been before. This got my engine revving and I was determined not to lose any places because this was better than I had ever done before. During the last loop I was passed three times, however, I passed one back and then got the other two right on the finish line. Therefore, in my head, I finished in 26th place. I crossed the line pretty much at the same time as another girl and one of the time keepers said ‘two at 35!’ as we came through, so by this I assumed we were in joint 35th place but that this included the U17 boys so when these were taken away I would be at the 26th place I thought I was at.
Later on I asked an official how many were in the race and he said 92 but, again, that included the U17 boys and he didn’t know how many ladies there were.
I was euphoric. I had come 26th out of around 80 ladies. Top third. Somewhere I have never been.
I continued to believe this until I googled the results in the car on the way home. Deflated is not the word. I came 40th out of 78th. Thing is, this is still a good result for me – almost top half of a field of serious runners – but the fact that I thought I had done exceptionally well, when really I had just done well, made me feel terrible. I could have cried and probably would have done had I been alone.
On the plus side though, this has made me really determined to train hard. The euphoric feeling I felt when I thought I had come 26th has made me want that to actually happen so much that I just want to train and train and train until it does.
I’m no longer happy to be a midpack runner, I want to move on up.
Watch this space!
Total distance – 2.75 miles (is that all!) + warm up/cool down
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