8am on a Saturday actually constitutes a lie in for me, but with the dog walk before hand and having come off nights, standing in a field at this time, I was a little bleary eyed. Fortunately, a man with a car full of course marking stakes, and Neal who was in charge, turned up and the next couple of hours were spent staking out the MACCL Kenworthy woods new improved course.
I am not an expert but the reason we needed a new course is something to do with a change in land ownership and the fact the new owners want to protect the pitches. Fair enough but a source of stress for the organisers. They also wanted more money but who doesn't these days. I hadn't really volunteered for much with club of late so made the home XC event my volunteer session for the season. At least by arriving early I got parked okay.
The course staking meant for once I knew where I was going when the it came to running. It was also quite educational as you ave to think exactly how people can go wrong, where the bunching is going to be and how you can safely get people in. Then you start helping with hte car parking and I must say, Hannah C you are a wonder!
So by the time I was warming up to race, I was already knackered! I stripped down to a long sleeve and vest and shorts (+ compression socks) and felt chilly. It had been a grey morning with threats of rain. I jogged over to the tiny bit of grass with no pitch markings on and did that slightly embarrassing job and drills combo of warming up whilst feeling awkward for taking it seriously when it is clear I am not competitive. Or is that feeling just me? XC brings out my imposter syndrome and also my desperate need to prove myself to my club.
The new course at Kenworthy avoids what used to be the quagmire just off the start line but now involves a selection of short loops (around playing fields) and longer loops (which take you out in to the woods and scrub land that make up Kenworthy). The first short loop allowed us all to space out a bit before diving through the narrow gate that took us through in to the trees. However, off the start line we had to all go up a short bump which caused a bit of clustering a scrambling . The playing field lap was predictably horrendous on the grass, watching most of the field pull well away from me, but avoiding being lapped. We used to do the first tree lined section in reverse and I have a terrible memory of starting to walk before realising my boss was marshalling at the end of the path and having to start running again. It actually wasn't as muddy as I remembered but it was still pretty crowded on the course around me.
We exited this wooded section on to the bumps across the scrub and then it was time for the hills. My legs felt pretty heavy and I didn't feel I was running well. Recently my head has thought I can run a lot better than I actually can, which has led to a lot of heartache. As we started on the section our club affectionately refers to as 'Val's Hills' after our club coach, I managed to over take a person or two, but was starting to question my sanity in doing this, or even in thinking I could do this, that I should be here etc. It wasn't a great headspace with still one more long lap and a short lap to go. After the hills we did a short section across a bit more scrub before popping out on to the playing fields again to start the next lap.
The next long lap was a mixed bag of losing and winning some places. I did less well on the hills second time around and by the time I popped out on to the playing fields for the final lap I felt fairly spent. The fast guys were flying past and so were some of the medium guys, heading to the finish. As we went past the course split point, at least one girl I was running with didn't do the final short lap, probably entirely innocently. It was a very confusing course and if I hadn't marked it at the start I wouldn't have had a clue!
I dragged myself around the final lap, and turned in to the finish straight down the short ramp that had created chaos at the start. Only at this point did we pass the club tent again and there was some cheering as I ran in. On the old course we used to pass the club tent each lap and I sort of missed this but given my rubbish performance, at least only those who had bothered to walk out on to the course had seen me floundering around.
I was glad to finish only to find that one of the ladies who is a good bit older than me had finished well ahead of me. She used to run with me but seems to have gained some wins recently; apparently its cycling around Wernth so I really need to get my bike out of retirement!
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