Learning from last week's mistakes I did a thorough warm up (one lap of the course, some stretching and some strides) and was ready for action as soon as the five minute warning went off. It was however REALLY difficult to force myself out of my warm clothing as the weather was utterly foul today.
I did Witton Park in the Red Rose XC last season and it was a really tough course as there was a steep hill in it, which you went up, then back down, before climbing another longer but less steep hill. This year, however, I was elated when I warmed up and found that the steep hill was no longer part of the course (the longer less steep hill still was though).
It was still a really tough course and the hill is really hard work second time around (I feel sorry for the blokes who had to tackle it five times!!!) but I managed to keep going and give it all I could. Two ladies overtook me on the second lap of the hill, but I overtook both of them again, together with four others, on the way back down. I really am miles better at running down slippery slopes than up them. Love it!
The only bad point to today's run is that the arches of my feet started to get really sore by the last lap. I know spikes have no cushioning in them but I did have custom insoles in so I'm not sure why my arches hurt so much. I tried to ignore it and keep going though.
I felt like I had run really well and managed to out sprint another lady just before the finish, but when I checked my Garmin, I was a bit disappointed with my pace. I haven't seen the results yet so I'm not sure how I did and I'll add an edit later on when the results come out. Fingers crossed my slow pace was due to the tough course (which in places had really deep mud) and that everyone else got a slower than usual pace too.
After the race I warmed down by running round the course again, in the opposite direction to the men's race. When I was running up the really muddy hill (where the men were running down), three men all lost shoes in the mud and had to dig around trying to retrieve them. Shows how bad the course was in places. Our men's team did really well and have hopefully won the league but I think we'll have to wait until the last race in Kendal to find out. RED ARMY!!!
I feel I tried as hard as I could today and gave it 100% so I just hope my positioning in the results reflects this. Watch this space.
Total course distance - 2.7 miles
Total distance including warm up/down - 5.4 miles
Edit: Have now seen the results and I have mixed feelings. I came much further down than I thought I had (65th out of 97) but have been looking at familiar names around me and there are some who were behind me but have beat me in the past but likewise there are some who were in front of me who I have beat in the past. Thing is, me being me, I'll probably focus more on the negatives than the positives. I think it's the furthest down the field I have been at cross country this season so I can't help but feel disappointed but, as stated above, I gave it my all but it seems my all isn't good enough.
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