I didn't run at all for a week after my shuffle round Bungay as I still felt pretty grotty. We attended the Silverstone Racing Club Dinner Dance on the Saturday night which was great fun, good food, great company and lively entertainment. The hotel we stayed at just outside Northampton was next to the Brampton Valley Way, a path along the route of a disused railway line. This is one of my old training runs from the days when I resided in Northampton. We had packed the bike so we could jog/bike for a few miles for old times sakes. It was a gorgeous sunny day so well worth it, although I was still shuffling!
We met our friends Andy and Debbie for lunch at Pitsford; really good to see them and have a catch up.
I still felt pretty rubbish the following week. Although I had booked the Wednesday afternoon off for the Nowton Park Weds league race I decided not to run; I had already run the minimum 6 races and couldn't improve on my points tally. I needed to save as much energy as possible for one last shuffle of the season on the Sunday and the time would be much better spent getting through the mountain of work I needed to get through that week.
The last race of the Suffolk xc league was at Haughley Park. I jogged round to warm up and had to stop and sit down three times! It was bad enough dragging myself round a couple of weeks ago but to have to do it again didn't fuel my enthusiasm! I gave myself a good talking to before the start and aimed to get round in one piece and collect the points. The race was pretty rubbish and I felt dreadful but I did what I needed to do and hung on to the position of first lady.
Unforeseen circumstances resulted in me having to pull out of the inter-counties and national vets xc champs this year. I'm gutted as I was unable to run at the Nationals at Parliament Hill so haven't been able to test myself at a level above regional.
Although the last two races of the season (Bungay and Haughley) were very disappointing I've got to be positive and look at the season as a whole as, aside from the nationals and inter counties I've achieved everything I've aimed for. Its easy to get hung up on the things that have gone wrong, especially when they are toward the end of the season and fresh in the mind.
So here are the positives;I won my leg of the Round Norfolk Relay and broke the course record, setting the time I'd aimed for by the second. I won the Eastern Regional xc champs, I won all six Weds league xc races and the ladies championship for the second year running and I won all four of the Suffolk xc league races, although rather untidily at the last two races! Unfortunately the Suffolk xc league rules award the Women's Championship to the highest placed senior lady so I can't win that (too old!) but will be awarded the highest placed female vet 35, for the second year running.
I'm having an enforced couple of months rest from running now, back shuffling' again in a while! Little Bloke over and out............................................
