Mention cross country running and you will picture freezing cold winters in football boots running around the school field – fast forward 25 years and apart from the age of the runners, not much has changed. Saturday I joined 200 other runners at the start line to run around a farmers field in spikes, shorts and t-shirt, all for the love of it.
Ok, the weather was actually relatively mild, the sun was shining and the ground was dry but the elements were there to bring back memories of those PE lessons all them years ago.
The event was the Kent Cross Country League, something that is organised every year and only open to a few athletics clubs in the south east. It was held just outside Dartford in Kent and the course consisted of four laps of a farm. The events taking place ranged from under 13s to veteran 70s, all different distances depending on the age and gender category. For the senior men, my category the distance was 9.8 km. There were a total of 202 finishers all ranging from 18 years old elite runners to V65 guys who just wanted to finish.
As this was my first cross country for a long long time, I was in the latter category, just hoping to finish and not come last. Allen, from my club gave me some really valuable advice, not to start off too quick and let the adrenaline of the event kick in. I heeded to that and the first mile was a very pedestrian 7:30. The next few were on average about 20 seconds quicker and the final mile was 6:50, slightly disappointing having so much left in the tank but something to learn for future. I finished a (for me), respectable 149th place, considering I was among some super elite runners I was quite happy with both my position and time 43:50 – although in my head I was comparing that to a 10k distance but still I’m pleased.
There are four more races left in the series spread over the winter months. Apparently the next race, at Somerhill Tonbridge is when it really gets tough. But now the first one is out the way, I am looking forward to getting the spikes on again….and you never know, it might even rain for me.