My objective for this race: run as hard as I could.
With an opening mile of 5:41 it could be an easy mistake to think that I was running well. I wasn’t, I was running downhill.
The first mile or so of this 3.7 mile race is a sharp downhill on paths that lead from the newly refurbished playground at Haigh Hall down to Bottling Wood. From there the course loops round before heading back uphill towards the finish. I could feel the burn of lactic acid everywhere. My shoulders were complaining as much as my calves. The uphill section of the run was an exercise in willing my legs to keep moving forwards. I’m always trying to see the bigger picture and I wanted to run this race as hard as I could as an exercise in pushing myself forward. This race achieved exactly this objective. I had to concentrate and run hard downhill; I had to concentrate and run hard uphill.
In the end I fnished in 24:52 for 34th place from 229 runners.
As I jogged back to my car I felt the familiar glow of achievement that comes with knowing that you have met the objective that you’ve set for yourself. I couldn’t have put anymore in to this race and I couldn’t have got anymore out of myself.
