Photos courtesy of Kenny Phillips.
A combination of consistent training and a change of job meant I approached the West District Cross Country in Linwood in a positive, less distracted mindset. That is until race day when, after a prolonged spell of settled weather, I and every other participant were greeted with as soggy a day as you will ever see. All that good preparation only for the target race to threaten to be a washout. I'd love to say I remained undeterred but I was in more of a "get this over with" mood and needed a real gee up to even get on the start line. If you've read my account of the West District race of 2012, you will know about my aversion to muddy courses.
The course was relatively flat but with 7 races already contested on it, there wasn't much greenery remaining. The best approach over the 4 lap (10,000m approx) course was to find the best line possible and, basically, keep going. Encouragingly, I had a bit more grit and steel about me than I've had for a long time and handled the conditions relatively well. Looking back now, I felt I grew into the race. A race long ding dong with Robert Gilroy ended with a narrow 2 second success in his favour but compare that to a near 2 minute thrashing in the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon in October. I ploughed through the mud, wind and rain to 11th place in a time of 36:07, just under 1:40 behind the winner Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab, about half the gap he had on me last year. Finishing 4th counter for the club earned me another District team gold medal so no complaints at all. This was as good a performance as I could have expected and a 3rd consecutive team gold. Hopefully there's more to come. They do say progress is never a straight line.
Above: Robert Gilroy and I battle it out.
Above: a soggy day indeed.
All the results are here.
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