Well
That Was Different!
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As Graham
Vickers and I arrived for the
race we wondered who else might be there; he correctly predicted Pete Cruse who turned up with George
Kennedy. We registered, bought raffle tickets and
admired the cakes appearing for after the race.
I then remembered what I always forget, because I do them so rarely –
midweek evening races tend to be run by whippets not waddlers. Would I be last in? A big feeling of relief when I saw one person
I regularly beat and others who looked as though they might be behind me.
Graham started talking dirty
before the race, mentioning the m*d word – there really is no need for that
sort of bad language. Still, I had worn old
running shoes just in case. George doesn’t do m*d either so we were both hoping for the best.
Despite a bad forecast, the weather was kind
to us. There were clouds and a couple of
spots of rain just before the start but, during the race, the sky cleared and
it was a lovely early evening, with birds singing. The rain held off until everyone had
finished.
The race was a new experience for me. A little tarmac but mostly footpaths, trails
and even a little way across a field. It
was an undulating course and definitely one for survival rather than PB seeking. Several ‘kissing gates’
and a couple of stiles were interruptions but thankfully only very little m*d
which was easily avoided. A few sets of
steps were annoying. People, with more
confidence and longer legs than me, bounded down them, passing me mincing
down. Going up wasn’t much better. Those sorts of steps are never the length of
a stride, always half a stride too long, or short, or something; wrong anyway.
I heard afterwards that some of the front
runners went off course. A big advantage
of being a slow runner is I had time to look for the red and white ribbon used
to mark the route. At junctions of
pathways, and where we had to cross the road, there were marshals who were
helpful and encouraging.
The course was tough and I felt irritated
while running; just wanting to be on a road.
You know where you are on road!
This was hard work, tiring, difficult, challenging, complicated. I finished saying ‘never again’ then quickly
decided I have to do it again next month to see if I can improve my time. Then in July, of course, I have to complete
the set of three. My time of 58:23 shows how hard it was and how many ‘kissing gates’ and sets of steps
there were. Nearly six minutes away from
my PB.
I predicted that Graham would make a comment
afterwards about this getting me into cross country. He did, and correctly predicted my response –
the second word of which was ‘off’.
All the suffering was worth it afterwards
when we had the biggest pieces of sponge cake I have ever seen. I won a raffle prize, a superb gift box of
all sorts of edible goodies. There were
several good prizes for the various winners and Puma had donated a pair
each of ladies and men’s trail shoes, for which there was a draw. Printed results were available quickly
too. This was a well organised event
which I recommend to anyone to try. The
other two in the series are scheduled for 22nd June and
20th July. Hope
to see you there.
Written by: Pauline Weller
Submitted: 6th June 2006
Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Website/Magazine Editor