Luton XC race

You probably can't get more different than a 30m ultra on the Sunday then a 5m XC race the following saturday, but that's what was in store for me yesterday. I hadn't run all week since the Winter Tanners. However did commute to work on the ElliptiGO on the Wednesday and rode back on the Thursday. You wouldn't pick the route I had to ride if it were a Sunday afternoon jaunt inthe countryside. A long part of the 22m route to work is down an unlit main A road. But I enjoyed it nevertheless and got my training miles in

Back to yesterday and it was a good race. A new course which served up a 3km first lap around a mass of football pitches, and a second 5km lap that started the same but then took a diversion through some extremely muddy fields before dipping steeply down a large downhill section then wound around a large field before ascending a very steep climb back up to the main playing fields and around to the finish.

It was a tough course made tougher still by the incessant head wind which it didn't seem to matter what direction you were facing - it still hit you head on! Why is that I wonder!?... Anyway I loved (almost) every minute of this race. I decided to pace my own race from the start rather than worry about what others may or may not of been doing. And I think it worked. I closed down in the later stages and took many especially on the final steep climb which left many a runner crawling up. It was my best XC position in a Chiltern League race too. 77 out of 188 division 1 runners. Leighton Buzzard came 6th on the day too (out of 14 clubs) which is out best race positin for years (so I'm told). So we sit in a solid 10th position in the league now and almost look certain to remain in the top flight for another year. For a small club (in comparison with those around us) this is a great achievement!

Roll on Parliment Fields in 2 weeks time which will be my first attempt at this famous southern XC race. It promises almost continuous climbs! Hooray.