I was mostly just happy to be able to race this, having picked up a little cold in the week and started antibiotics for a tooth infection. But I was able to make it on a beautiful, if a little windy, day out at Wormwood Scrubs, in the shadow of the prison of the same name. The course was a fairly easy 2 laps around the park and some sports pitches. I heard that flooding had prevented us from heading into the woods, but it certainly left some great puddles on the course, as captured brilliantly in a photo by fellow Serpie, Lars Menken.
It’s taken four races but this time I finally got the hang of starting at my own pace rather than following a faster moving pack, and I think this left me strong for the rest of the race. I felt pretty good the whole way around and even had enough left to get into a duel with a runner from Ealing over the last 200-300m. He did get the better of me about 30m from the line though, but we shook hands at the end after our little personal race.
This races closes my inaugural season as a cross country runner, as I don’t quite feel ready to enter the Nationals at the end of the month. I can definitely see why people do it, as it can only be good for fitness and leg strength, and the camaraderie of the post-race pub doesn’t hurt either!
My result: 306th, finishing in 37:22