Joy of Running
On the weekend my local running club Knowle & Dorridge running club arranged the Warwickshire Cross Country Championships in the Brueton Park nature reserve, a beautiful country park filled with small dog paths and a few islets of forest. The preceding week had been relatively rainy and the surface was fitted muddy and uneven for an orienteer. I cannot say I had my best day (I didn't) but I enjoyed the course and race as much as you can enjoy it when hit by tiredness and still forced to run fast. I tried to stick to the leading pack but after a while a lonely runner had made a clear gap to the rest of us (a world-class triathlonist as I heard afterwards). The first round went well but I could already feel the lactate filling my legs and I didn't recover from the steepest uphill (which wasn't really a steep one but felt steep enough) in the half way of the course. After that the joy of running disappeared and I was really struggling to keep my third place. On the last kilometers I gave up (according to my dear personal coach who was following the race it was really just my mental weakness) and let a few girls pass me. I felt a bit annoyed but wasn't strong enough to do anything. When I finally saw the finish line far up the hill I managed to take a small sprint and come closer the girls who had passed me a while ago but I still couldn't pass them. I finished 6th, 10 seconds from the bronze. 6th out of 89 participants wasn't that bad after all and to my big big surprise I was given a special piece of paper at the finish. I'm not even sure if I'm eligible to compete due to my nationality but I was nevertheless very proud to be given a letter where it stood that I am being considered to be selected to the Inter Counties Cross Country to represent Warwickshire. I have never ever been considered to represent anything in running so I was really honored by this. I really hope I will be able to participate this Inter Counties. Results.
On the weekend my local running club Knowle & Dorridge running club arranged the Warwickshire Cross Country Championships in the Brueton Park nature reserve, a beautiful country park filled with small dog paths and a few islets of forest. The preceding week had been relatively rainy and the surface was fitted muddy and uneven for an orienteer. I cannot say I had my best day (I didn't) but I enjoyed the course and race as much as you can enjoy it when hit by tiredness and still forced to run fast. I tried to stick to the leading pack but after a while a lonely runner had made a clear gap to the rest of us (a world-class triathlonist as I heard afterwards). The first round went well but I could already feel the lactate filling my legs and I didn't recover from the steepest uphill (which wasn't really a steep one but felt steep enough) in the half way of the course. After that the joy of running disappeared and I was really struggling to keep my third place. On the last kilometers I gave up (according to my dear personal coach who was following the race it was really just my mental weakness) and let a few girls pass me. I felt a bit annoyed but wasn't strong enough to do anything. When I finally saw the finish line far up the hill I managed to take a small sprint and come closer the girls who had passed me a while ago but I still couldn't pass them. I finished 6th, 10 seconds from the bronze. 6th out of 89 participants wasn't that bad after all and to my big big surprise I was given a special piece of paper at the finish. I'm not even sure if I'm eligible to compete due to my nationality but I was nevertheless very proud to be given a letter where it stood that I am being considered to be selected to the Inter Counties Cross Country to represent Warwickshire. I have never ever been considered to represent anything in running so I was really honored by this. I really hope I will be able to participate this Inter Counties. Results.
