It was my first run in the national in 3 years, having last competed up at a vey snowy Sunderland in 2013. That time out I ran home in 145th place, this time the main target was to try and break into he top 100 - having finished in 53rd in he Northern's three weeks ago I felt that it would be a close run thing, but a good aim to set myself.
This time out, the conditions were much kinder to the competitors, with a chill in the air courtesy of a cold breeze, but dry and mainly clear conditions overhead made for a pleasant day out and a much more comfortable experience whilst waiting for the senior men's race to get underway.
Upon the start line, each competing club has their lead runner lined up across the start line - which makes for quite a spectacle, as it means the start-line is one huge sweeping one which fills the full length of the field.
Wesham started from pen number 48, which was nearest to the left hand side of the field and meant that we were beginning from a slightly higher point than those down on the right hand side, and meant that our first few hundred yards were based on a bit more of a descent than for the runners from those clubs.
Once at the bottom end of the field, the course closed in to a bit of a bottle-neck as you joined the main section of the course, which was much narrower than the original start as the field closed in. Luckily I had managed to get off to quite a solid start and was already in and around my target position, possibly just outside the first hundred at that stage.
The first half of the course was very much runnable, with pretty solid grassy conditions underfoot, and he only concern being the uneven terrain underfoot through what looked like a cabbage patch or something (?) in the first mile of each lap. I should probably mention at this point that the race took place over three laps, each of approximately 2.6 miles - as the overall distance came in at approximately 7.9 miles.
Anyway, having negotiated the way through the cabbage patch (or whatever it was!), the next section of the race saw a steep downhill, followed quickly by a relatively steep incline before the course levelled back out to a pretty even grassy section, which was the most easy part of the course to run at pace, before a second steeper climb to the highest section of the course, which is where he runners were then greeted with the most testing area as the real action began - the mud at last!
Cross-country is so much different to running on the road, and one of the most interesting things about the discipline for me, is the many different types of mud that you can encounter through the season. That is right, I just admitted to finding mud interesting, I am now officially sad! Haha. But seriously, there are so many different scenarios that you can encounter - 3 years ago at Sunderland for instance, the mud was incredibly slushy and slippy. Although this meant you were able to get your feet in and out of the mud quickly, it made it extremely difficult to maintain your balance and keep on your feet. It also meant you ended up covered in the stuff - although it did make for a good picture...
This time around, the mud was more clay-like and cleggy underfoot. This meant that your feet sunk into it more and deeper, meaning it was more difficult to get your feet in and back out at pace, meaning that it was more testing on the upper leg muscles to drive through the thick stuff.
I am not sure where exactly I was placed throughout the race, but I am fairly sure I heard a spectator counting out the runners as we came through the first lap, with myself around 94th place, which meant I knew I was there-or-thereabouts on target at that point.
I was really pleased with how my performance came together, as I was able to pretty much maintain a consistent pace throughout - apart from the first mile, which was substantially quicker due to the downhill start and the adrenaline rush as you tried to get into a decent position.
I was able to pick off runners through the final lap, and was astonished to find as I crossed the finish line, that I had not only fulfilled my ambition of placing in the top 100, but that I had done so comfortably, and a strong last lap had seen me finish strongly and come through in 80th position overall.
I was delighted with my performance, and it gives me confidence going forwards ahead of the Intercounties and the curtain-closer for my cross-country season in a fortnight's time. I am really looking forward to that one now, and it will be an honour to get to run with the red-rose on my chest again.
On one of the social media groups that I follow, there has been a lot of debate and conversation over the last couple of days about the structure of the National and whether or not the slower runners should be able to participate when it reaches the stage that they are likely to be lapped by the quicker runners.
Not that my opinion matters much, but I really don't feel that restricting who can participate is the way forward. Before the race yesterday, I described the concept to a few of my non-running friends as being like the running equivalent of the FA Cup, and I stand by that - for me a large part of the glory and appeal of this prestigious race, is that all men are equal (and women in their race too of course!) and that regardless of ability, anyone that is a member of a club is able to go toe-to-toe with the best in the country. To take away that right would be to potentially disillusion sections of our running community and further anger those that feel there is an elitist mindset creeping into such events.
Instead, surely the safest and least controversial way of allowing all to participate, but also keep everyone safe would be to bring in time-limits for each lap of the course, that way if anyone is dangerously behind the rest they could be asked to step off the course - just as is the case in many road races up and down the land.
The only concern I had yesterday was for the back stragglers from the women's race, that were nearly trampled on by the stampede of men heading their way at the start of the senior men's race. Perhaps 40 minutes wasn't a long enough gap between the two races? Or again, a time-limit for completion would also solve this issue.
Away from the cross-country, I had another pleasing week of training too. I managed to tick over another high mileage week - with my second successive 80+ mile week. I am hoping that the increased effort in training can be sustained over the coming weeks, as I look to build up towards the Cardiff Half Marathon in 4 weeks time.
My track session this week consisted of 16x400m, whilst my Thursday tempo was cut shorter and at an easier pace as I held back a bit ahead of this weekend's race. After running 5 miles at 5:14 pace this week, I was amazed at how easy 3.8 miles felt at 5:19 pace.
I would also like to take a moment to congratulate my long-term coach and mentor Rob Affleck on his Half Marathon PB that he recorded at Brighton earlier on this morning, as he broke the 70 minute barrier for the first time. Hopefully I won't be far behind him in getting there!
Also, since this week marks the one year birthday of my blog, I would like to thank each and every one of you that has taken the time to read, engage and share in my journey over he last 12 months.
Blogging and recording your training/efforts in this form isn't for everyone, but I enjoy it and it allows me to record not only the hard statistics of how many miles I have done etc, but also how I felt grout hour the week - and I think that it has helped me to learn from the experience and adapt my training on a week-to-week basis.
Total mileage for the week: 81
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:23
Total mileage for the month so far (February): 298
Total mileage so far 2016: 613
Average miles per day 2016: 10.38
