Southern Cross Country Championships

30th

Race Report:

You're not a real cross country runner until you've tackled the undulating muddy bog that is Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath. Nine not so glorious miles of mud, mud and more mud. You know its going to be soggy going when you find abandoned running spikes embedded in the deep sticky mud. The officials have to be very careful to count in all the under thirteens at the finish, for fear they have sunk beneath the surface never to be seen again!

I'd been looking forward to this race. I like to think of myself as a bit of a scrapper, I keep on going regardless of what I'm running on, which comes in handy on Parliament Hill. I also wanted to put to bed my own personal hoo doo I have for the place. I must have raced there nearly ten times and I've yet to have a good run, I've run well for parts of races but never have I been anywhere near satisfied with my complete race. Sadly today was no exception!

I managed to get an amazing start up the long first hill. I'd placed myself to the far right of the course, and the going must have been a lot better than on the far side as I reached the top in third surrounded by international standard athletes. But I didn't feel as though I'd worked too hard to get into that position so I ploughed on. Things got ugly just half a mile further on. A stitch in the middle of my diaphragm hit me, and my stomach sounded as though I was running with a hot water bottle strapped to me! The stitch meant I had to take short shallow breaths, not what you want when your legs are demanding as much oxygen as you can get to them as possible. My legs soon became heavy, and the course takes no prisoners when the going gets tough. I knew I couldn't stop, I hate to DNF so I kept going. After two of the three laps I'd fallen back to about 50th position, when finally the stitch began to fade and I could breathe again. But it only gave me three miles to bring my legs back to life and make my way back through the field.

I eventually finished 30th, shattered and disappointed at what could have been. But to take a politically positive spin on things I'd finished over 50 places higher than last year and over 150 on the year before that. So to be disappointed with 30th shows me I'm moving in the right direction.