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In between winter seasons i try to keep myself as fit as possible and this year running seems to be the trend that i’m in with right now. Regular readers of the blog will know that i’ve run a number of half marathons and the Eurasia Marathon, over in Istanbul during October. Since then i’ve decided to bring the distance down somewhat and have been training for shorter distance races. Last weekend was a cross country 10km held in Tatton Park which is quite close to my home town.

Sunday was a lovely crisp morning with the temperature hovering around freezing. 355 people had turned out for the event and i opted to use my race tactic of running as fast as i could for as long as i could (a tactic which proved rather unsuitable for a marathon distance!) The start was very fast and slippery under foot but after the first few kilometres i managed to get my breathing under control and felt comfortable with my pace. A few of the more experienced runners started to pick me off quite easily until an adrenaline surge around the 7km mark which allowed me to start overtaking a few. After 46 minutes of running through bogs, ducking under trees, jumping over logs and climbing cobbled hills i crossed the finish line absolutely delighted with 32nd place.

Boxing day will see my next outing as i am entered in my towns yearly “round the walls race” (chester is a roman town with walls circling it). As for my position for that one – that depends on how much debauchery there is on christmas day!

All images courtesy of my mother…..