I should first of all apologise, this is a pretty wordy post. There aren’t a lot of photo’s from yesterdays race, I don’t think the families/spectators were too keen on traipsing through all the mud and sand just to take some photo’s!!
Waking up yesterday morning, the thought of running through woods & fields really wasn’t on my list of things to do. Helen had gotten up early to go for her own XC run, she wasn’t competing today, so i decided to stay warm n cosy in bed. I wasn’t going anywhere. I should probably say at this point that I am NOT a morning person……..AT ALL. I think it comes from all the late nights I had working as a barman in my 20’s, I don’t get tired until about 11pm.
The race start today was slightly later than normal, 11:00am, so i got up at 9:00am & got my kit on ready……which is just as well really as I had a phone call from Helen about 10 minutes later saying that she had got lost on her run. One of the problems of running in the country lol, all the fields look the same. So after I had picked her up somewhere outside of the village, we all set off for Woodridge, the setting for the destruction of my legs!
The actual race is in Sutton, just outside of Woodbridge & i guess you could describe it as a figure ‘8’ course. 5.5 miles in total. What makes this course so tough is the sand. Sutton Heath and the fields we run through are a mixtures of sand & bridleway and come the 2nd lap, you just want someone to shoot you and put you out of your misery. Even now, 9hrs later, my calfs are killing me. I dread to think what they will be like tomorrow!
I’ve sort of jumped to the end their really haven’t i? Back to the start we go.
After a warm-up run with Scott to see how compacted the sand was (not a lot we found out) we headed to the start line & waited for the off! As I mentioned earlier, Helen wasn’t running so she was designated ‘bag-lady’ and how she cherished the role with her big black rubbish sack collecting fellow Striders jumpers & trainers.
A few minutes later & “Whhhoooooooooooooo”, the klaxon goes and the stampede begins. There was a large group of Striders running together to begin with, a little bit of black ‘n’ yellow carnage. Everyone was vying for that tiny patch of compacted ground. There were places on the route where the competitors filtered down into single file, sharing the one strip of compacted sand or grass verge….just for that 30 or 40 metres of respite from the bloody sand!
it wasn’t too long into the race…..the first corner I think, when Sam decided that it might be more productive to roll around & play in the sand a little. I think a branch or something caught him on the leg & down he went. We had a bit of a laugh about it at the time but it wasn’t until he crossed the finish line later with a knee covered in blood did we realised quite how bad it was. That’s the sign of a proper hardcore cross-country runner there, a little bit of blood isn’t going to stop them from finishing that race.
To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember a lot of the first lap. I was so busy concentrating on trying to keep my feet planted and not lose any ground/places, I didn’t pay too much attention to what was going on around me. I remember catching up to Martin Little at one point as he seemed to be going ‘great-guns’ but other than that, I was having a bit of an out of body experience.
However, by the end of the first lap, we were down to just the 4 of us………Danny Preece (a fellow Strider), an older gentleman from Sudbury Joggers, someone from Felixstowe Road Runners & then lowly old me. And it was the four of us that ran together right till the end. This was Danny’s first race for the Striders & i think he was giving us all a masterclass in XC running. And it was great running with him to be fair as he was pushing the pace just right, it wasn’t easy but I wasn’t breathing out of my arse either. There were a couple of times where he hit the afterburners and pulled away a bit but we always seemed to end up back together again.
We all stayed together for the second lap pushing between 6:05 & 6:10/mi pace which I’m quite chuffed with considering the ground conditions & then we hit the one sticking point. My spikes.
I wear spikes when doing cross country & up until the last section, that was all good but then the track turned into a concrete road. It was only about 100 metres worth & it was less than half a mile from the finish but I went from feeling secure and having traction to being on an ice skating rink. My feet were all over the place. Danny was wearing spikes as well so we were both having a bit of difficuty. Luckily, there was one of those saviour grass verges again which gave us a little bit of grip. I’ll be honest, by this point I was pretty knackered so when the other three pushed on, I was more than happy to maintain my current pace to see me across the line. 20th place with an avg pace of 6:10/mi. I don’t think I can grumble with that, although my legs may well be grumbling about something tomorrow!
Once the race was finished, there was nothing left to do but 1/ get some coffee & cake and 2/ cheer the other Striders on. There were 41 of us racing yesterday…….41!!! That’s massive & i bet every last one of us found it tough…….but we will be there for the next race, come rain or shine!!
I really do love XC season, and today drove home just how much!!!!!
Did you race yesterday?? How did you find it??? XC or Road???
The Suffolk Strider 
Way to go!! SPEEEEEDSTER. You’ve got a look of determination on your face that’s for sure!