Monday 2nd March - Sunday 8th March

So yet again I've managed to get to the final and biggest race of the season in far from top form. A week off sick is never a good thing in an athlete’s life, but two weeks before the race I'd been aiming at and training for (for nearly five months), my timing is less than perfect.

I struggled with my coach as to what to do training-wise this week. I'd wanted last week to be really hard, with a lot of mileage and some quality sessions.
Instead I was in bed struggling to keep dry toast down. I wanted to really ease back for the race, letting my body recover so I could be at my best. Instead I had to get some runs in to get back my fitness and to rebuild my confidence.
It was tricky. I was still recovering my strength from the illness, so getting the balance was key. Too far or too hard and I'd be tired come race day.
Not enough and I feared I'd be found wanting by the pace required to be competitive.

On Monday and Tuesday I attacked my key training sessions relatively hard considering it was only a few days before a massive race. We changed my usual morning thirty-minute steady run into a tempo session. Ten minutes warm up, ten tempo, and then ten warm down. I actually felt quite good. My stomach problem had passed and I had some strength in my legs compared to my race on Saturday. It was a step forward but completing a ten-minute tempo run is miles from completing a ten kilometre cross country race against the best in the country. With a track session on Tuesday night and energy conservation my top priority, easy runs on Monday night and Tuesday morning were completed. They were so slow I hardly broke sweat and was over taken on a solo training run for the first time in years!

With a number of my training group taking part in the race on Saturday the coach broke the session up. We started with 1200's followed by three 400's then the same again. I worked the longer reps, building my confidence. I felt OK and then flowed round the 400's, letting my legs turn over at a good rate, but at no stage did I want to push myself into severe oxygen debt. I knew with a weakened body it would take me longer than normal to recover and time wasn't on my side. I was reasonably happy with the way things were going. I would have liked to have been able to save myself more, but having had a week off I knew I needed to remind my body how to deal with hard work.

From now until Saturday it was just a case of easy running and a few strides to keep the legs ticking over. I focused on being positive. I'd had the best winters training I've ever had, which had to count for something. I put my feet up as much as possible and tried to tell myself that last week was a chance for my body to rest up, and for my legs to repair themselves, rather than let the illness become an overbearing negative.


The day of the race arrived and I was as excited as I was nervous. I was feeling good and was focused solely on my race and forgot all about my less than perfect preparations.
The Inter Counties in Nottingham have a special atmosphere. With numerous age group races going on throughout the day there is always something happening.
Sky TV cameras add a bit of spice to it, and everyone that's there is there because they are the best in their County. All season you run for your club in open races that anyone who wants to can enter but to run here, you have to be selected. It makes you feel special, like you've achieved something already.

As well as focusing on my race as an individual I was also very aware that my county, Surrey, were in with a very good chance of winning a medal in the team race. With nine runners in each county starting out and only six to score I was going to have my work cut out just to make the team.

We all lined up in our starting pen decked out in the gold of Surrey. Annoyingly, due to my poor luck with illness this season when it came to the big races, I was at the back of the pen. As I was the last qualifier from the County Championships, where I'd suffered with a cold, it was going to be a tricky start.
The gun went and it was a charge up the first hill. Runners quickly swamped me and the crowd dictated my pace. I would have liked to have run at my own pace and have taken closer order from the gun but I couldn't. Part of me wanted a steady start after my poor race build-up. It would give me chance to get into my stride, find my pace and ensure that I didn't go off too hard and use up all my energies.

I felt comfortable but could see I was falling behind where I had wanted to be. Having come well outside the top one hundred last year, I'd set a target at the beginning of the season of 50th. After half a lap I was able to dictate my own pace. I started to move forward slowly. I guess I must have been outside the top 200 after my start and surveyed the field for other Surrey runners to gage how I was doing. I could see a group of four Surrey boys but they were well ahead. I was dismayed. They'd gone for it from the off, weaving in and out to get up well inside the top 100. I'd played the safety card, possibly my lack of fitness and fear over my staying power and lack of strength meant I was happy to settle into the pace of the crowds that engulfed me.

I continued to make progress through the field. I was running reasonably well, but I knew it wasn't well enough. Something was missing. That little bit extra I'd been training for all winter wasn't there. My legs felt reasonably strong but I didn't have the speed and endurance I'd wanted.
Up ahead I had glimpses of my teammates with whom I'd raced all winter. I knew where I should be in relation to them but I wasn't. Yet again I'd missed my chance and all because of food poisoning. The way I was performing showed I was in great shape; I was just outside of the top 100 in the UK. But my reserves had been depleted by my illness. I think I was fooling myself that I could have run to my true potential. How can I perform to my best so soon; after losing half a stone in body weight, after having my energy stores so thoroughly depleted, after having my training routine completely disrupted. As I finished all these things went through my head.
Part of me told myself I was making excuses. It's part of the game to get yourself to the line in the best shape possible. I'd failed at that. But my excuse was valid. If it had been just a single day off sick or a cold maybe I would have been making excuses. I was just absolutely gutted. 107th and eighth Surrey scorer. I'd missed out on a team bronze, which didn't make me feel great. It seemed like the rest of the guys I'd been dicing with all season had got to the start line in great shape. 7th, 14th, 43rd, 60th, 63rd, 64th 74th. I should have been in the middle of that lot. 107th felt like nowhere.
On Sunday I didn't run. I needed time to put things into perspective. 107th was much better than last years performance. I'd performed well when I didn't have the best tools. When I look at what my teammates did, it shows me what I can do, and it puts me in the mix.

Running can be a cruel sport. I'd put six months into one race and illness made it seem as though I shouldn't have bothered. But I've had success leading up to this point. The work I'd put in won't be wasted. I just have to change my goals and come back fighting. I want to move up to the Marathon and be more competitive over the shorter distances on the road.
The Inter Counties will come round again next year, and I'll have another chance to prove myself. If I can improve as much as I have done this year all this will be forgotten. With running there's always another race, another chance.