This was my very first cross country race, so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I didn't expect was the huge number of people racing, especially all the children. When I arrived on site there was about a dozen marquees and tents with club banners flying and large pockets of runners all wearing matching vests. Everyone was very friendly and cheering on the children's races and the female races too. The wh
ole feel to the event was very family orientated, and a real festival of running.
I soon spotted Team Derby Runner's marquee, as it was the biggest marquee and the only one selling shoes, spikes and everything else a runner could want. I registered with our team captain, and then went for a wonder round to watch the runners and do a little stretching. Before I start the review, i'm going to get some excuses in. My friend had organised a night out in Derby, for a ghost walk, darts and beers for the Friday night so I was feeling a little delicate after a few beers, kebab (I did go for chicken to be healthy) and a late (2:30am) bedtime. I was very happy today was a very civilized 1:55pm start!
I put my self at the back of pack and chatted with my fellow Team Derby Runner member, when the gun went I shuffled off and weaved through a few of the back markers, the running was steady but I was in no state to push hard from the 'go'. It didn't take long for the pack to thin into a single file and I was happyish trudging along. When the first hill hit it was bloody tough, and very slippery, maybe I should invest in some new cross country shoes and spikes? It was too late to be thinking of new shoes and the first lap was dealt with and I wasn't doing too bad. I did spot some guys from Parkrun ahead of me, that I know I've been faster than, at Parkrun, so I knew my pace wasn't great.
The second lap was all about mucus and snot. My second excuse of the day is have a crappy head cold which didn't help my breathing or focus. Running with a big beard, snotty nose, and phlegm filled throat leads to some absolutely disgusting coughs, gobs and farmer's handkerchief action. Running whilst de-glooping the face fuzz must have added to my overall time. The hill on the second lap seem higher steeper and even slippery. Pretty sure the guys from The Derby Runner where spraying the hills with water to make them slippier so that i will decide to definitely buy a pair of spikes.
I was still unsure if it was 2 or 3 laps as reached the finish point. But the man holding the tape indicated a 3rd lap was needed to finished the race. If lap one was 'steady', and lap two 'snotty', lap three was 'nauseous'. Last nights range of bottled largers, real ales, and nasty wee dram of cheap whisky was now mixing with the muesli breakfast and my crumpet lunch. I'm now just running stready and hoping I don't loose my lunch the hills are still getting steeper and greasier.
On the final climb with about a 1km to go a man in a bright yellow Harborough running vest passes me. At this point my race brain finally kicked in and I told myself 'No. Not today. You, my yellow chested friend, are not going to beat me.' So i picked up my knees and kept close to his shoulder, we started catching 2 other runners as we started the final descent. One of the two targets were being enthusiastically encouraged by teams mates who had finished and wondered back along the course to speed them on. I pulled up next to Mr Yellow and encouraged him that we should make sure we beat the two guys who were 50 meters out in front. he replied with a very Jolly 'Pick your knees and go get em' That's all I needed to put a decent bounce in my stride I pushed as hard I could and quickly caught the targets. But as I passed them we were about 300 meters away from the line and the crowds started to cheer which picked up their pace too. I'm normally pushing hard to overtake someone plodding to the line, this time I was in the lead of a group of four and HAD to hold them off. This was new to me, not having someone to focus on a beat was very hard. So it was 'hammer' time, 'empty the tank' time, 'throw-up on timing marshall's shoes if you need to' time. I passed the finish line ahead of the trio of targets, kept my stomach contents and felt like I had at least ran the last 1 km and the previous 9 km were just a warm up.
I had such a great day and XC Leagues are a really raw challenge, simply run off road, as fast as you can.
http://www.northmidsxcleague.co.uk/
Thanks to
http://www.derbyrunner.com/
http://www.nottinghamrunner.com/
for the photos and great support.
ole feel to the event was very family orientated, and a real festival of running.
 |
| Team Derby Runner |
I put my self at the back of pack and chatted with my fellow Team Derby Runner member, when the gun went I shuffled off and weaved through a few of the back markers, the running was steady but I was in no state to push hard from the 'go'. It didn't take long for the pack to thin into a single file and I was happyish trudging along. When the first hill hit it was bloody tough, and very slippery, maybe I should invest in some new cross country shoes and spikes? It was too late to be thinking of new shoes and the first lap was dealt with and I wasn't doing too bad. I did spot some guys from Parkrun ahead of me, that I know I've been faster than, at Parkrun, so I knew my pace wasn't great.
The second lap was all about mucus and snot. My second excuse of the day is have a crappy head cold which didn't help my breathing or focus. Running with a big beard, snotty nose, and phlegm filled throat leads to some absolutely disgusting coughs, gobs and farmer's handkerchief action. Running whilst de-glooping the face fuzz must have added to my overall time. The hill on the second lap seem higher steeper and even slippery. Pretty sure the guys from The Derby Runner where spraying the hills with water to make them slippier so that i will decide to definitely buy a pair of spikes.
 |
| Just at the base of the ever growing hill |
On the final climb with about a 1km to go a man in a bright yellow Harborough running vest passes me. At this point my race brain finally kicked in and I told myself 'No. Not today. You, my yellow chested friend, are not going to beat me.' So i picked up my knees and kept close to his shoulder, we started catching 2 other runners as we started the final descent. One of the two targets were being enthusiastically encouraged by teams mates who had finished and wondered back along the course to speed them on. I pulled up next to Mr Yellow and encouraged him that we should make sure we beat the two guys who were 50 meters out in front. he replied with a very Jolly 'Pick your knees and go get em' That's all I needed to put a decent bounce in my stride I pushed as hard I could and quickly caught the targets. But as I passed them we were about 300 meters away from the line and the crowds started to cheer which picked up their pace too. I'm normally pushing hard to overtake someone plodding to the line, this time I was in the lead of a group of four and HAD to hold them off. This was new to me, not having someone to focus on a beat was very hard. So it was 'hammer' time, 'empty the tank' time, 'throw-up on timing marshall's shoes if you need to' time. I passed the finish line ahead of the trio of targets, kept my stomach contents and felt like I had at least ran the last 1 km and the previous 9 km were just a warm up.
I had such a great day and XC Leagues are a really raw challenge, simply run off road, as fast as you can.
http://www.northmidsxcleague.co.uk/
Thanks to
http://www.derbyrunner.com/
http://www.nottinghamrunner.com/
for the photos and great support.
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