Dunstable XC

Speaking of getting injured at the last minute, I've never really had that much patience for people who avoid cross-country purely on the basis that they think they're going to get injured. That's too long a phrase to keep using; I need a shorter one. I know: wimps.

Yes, I'm sure someone will be able to give an example of someone who got injured at the last minute by doing cross country. But Lindsay nearly got a career-ending injury just by chatting with Claire Messenger at the ball, when Claire's high heels got too close to Lindsay's toes. Over the weekend I had a sore back that I presumably developed in my sleep. So these things can happen at any time.

That was the rational part of my head talking. Halfway round the muddy, slippery, hilly Dunstable XC, I started to have some sympathy for the wimps, seeing that one extra slip could pull a muscle, or one concealed rut could twist my ankle. But I wasn't going at top speed, and I wouldn't have started if I felt I had any injuries beforehand. And anyway, half my training runs are off-road, so if something had happened during the race I would have been in a better position than training - at least have had someone to pick me up. Hmm, no, perhaps I'd have just had Sibbo step on me.

One other thing - for the first time in about 10 years at the club, I managed to forget my race number, and had to make do with a last-minute home-made one. Of course this was never going to last the morning, so I had to hold it in my hand after the first mile. Which one do you think I should use next time?

I enjoyed the event. I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't so wet, and I'd have done even better if it was twice as long! It was obvious as I went round that the hills and the distance weren't bothering me much, but I simply couldn't go any faster. I'd already been to the HQ last month for the Dunstable 20 mile trail run, but what I hadn't noticed about the showers then was that there were only 4 of them - so queues developed quite fast. Speaking of queuing, the food queue didn't clear until after the announcement of the results - which meant the last people to eat missed out on the scores, but the people who heard the results missed out on the spare sandwiches on offer! Speaking of the results, they were better than I expected, especially considering three of our fastest ladies were unavailable.

One of those ladies was marathon-training-buddy Tash, of course, since she did the Basel marathon at the weekend. (Or Basle - I guess that's the problem with having two official languages.) Anyway, I hope she's happy with her PB of under 3:05, even though it wasn't the holy grail of under 3:00 (which, as far as our club is concerned, only Paula has managed so far).

It's time to get scared now - the New York marathon is my Next Thing.