Basically in order to get to this race in Guildford I hired a Zipcar. Zipcar in the UK is basically a car club that people join who live quite central to public transport and do not own a car. It's a great alternative to owning car. ANYWAY, when I got to the car, my card to open the car wouldn't work. Lucky for me one of my fellow race goers came to my rescue, we rang Zipcar and got them to unlock the vehicle. We were off. I was so worried that it was going to take forever to get there that I made sure everyone was ready to go by 6:30am. Crazy woman!
Picked up all the lads along the way @thathollywood @itoblivious @richiethorpe. Got to Newlands Corner with plenty of time to chill, relax and catch up with everyone. The boys did give me some stick about how early we had gotten there but hey we were there and that was all that mattered to me at the time.
Now not only was this my 1st XC trail run but it was also Thames Turbo Tri Club first Club Championship for the season. Whoever won this from the club would be deemed XC Champions for 2013.
As the time was drawing nearer I was beginning to wonder if I was the only female from my club that was going to race, but never fear another turbo female arrived. She ended up taking the win for the females for our Club Championship and earning herself the first lot of 100 points. Well done Sally.
I had no idea what to expect never having done one this race before and with a headcold I would be happy just to finish and in a reasonable time, under 1:30. I thought that was pretty reasonable time due to how I was feeling.
We all took the start line, had a group photo and wished each other a good race. 8:30am came and it was time to go.
The first 1km was pretty much downhill and very muddy. I decided to simply take it easy. I couldn't breathe through my nose so it was all out of my mouth, not great and with the cold going directly to my chest, breath was short and fast. As soon as we got to a church we came around the corner to be hit with a freakin massive hill. I was like WTF!!! lol........mate I won't lie I had to walk up it. I think if I even tried to run up it I would have blown up.
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| You can see the hill behind me as I near the top |
There were several hills like this throughout the course. If I had to choose a race, of course I had to choose the hardest bloody one lol. I continued on running and then again walking up hills when they presented themselves. Got to water station to be cheered on by Sophie Frame (a fellow turbo who was volunteering). However when I past her I started to see runners on their way back, I was like shit these guys are already nearly finishing.......3 Optima young lads ran past, then I saw my fellow fast turbo T Higgins chasing them and then another couple of turbos flew past......T Male and M Gilkes....at this point I was thinking shit I have not even got to 5km and these guys are on there way back........(found out later that we run back on ourselves and then go in a different direction for another 5km). I just kept saying to myself, you know what just enjoy this run, the scenery and the lovely fresh air. You will finish when you finish and you will have lapped everyone on the couch. So I did just that. I tried to keep up with some girls that were ahead of me but there as no chance. My head wasn't having any of it.
I made every effort to smile for the camera of course. I have to say @Allabouttriathlon you picked a beautiful location for this run and even though it was bloody tough for me I will be back to do this one again. It's a challenging course but a beautiful scenic one aswell. I must I did stop at one point on my way to take some photos of the scenery.
When I did get to the 5km mark I said to the guy on the bike who was making sure all the runners got back safely that I might call it a day. Just for a second I thought I would throw it in, the guy on the bike said to me, 'you only have a little bit further to go and then you are done, are you sure you really want to end it now?' that was pretty much enough for me to just keep running. So i did. I got to the final few hundred meters............in my head I was thinking everyone will have left by now as I am so far behind and my poor mates Richie, Andrew and Martin all had to wait for me to finish BUT blimey crikey mate was I pleasantly surprised when I got in view of the finish line to see so many of my fellow club mates waiting at the finish. As soon as they saw me coming they even ran towards me and ran alongside me to the finish line. That would have had to have been the highlight of my day!
I finished last in the race, I came second in the female category for our Club Champs (not hard considering there was only 2 females that raced), I completed my 1st XC run and I lapped everyone on the couch. All in all a good day in the office even with a headcold.
Really enjoyed it, I will be back to do it again and actually possibly the whole Runners Need G3 series next year.
Thanks for reading, till my next race...........10th March - 10km Bushy Park Run!
Smooches
xx