Borders Cross Country Series No.2 Lauderdale. 29/11/09
James had another superhuman performance!Who doesn't love cross country? It must be the single biggest eliminator of potential distance runners. I've heard countless tales of compulsory misery runs around shady parks all over the UK, from sedentary types. Me, I liked it so much that I once ran a town championship race in my well polished black school shoes. My mother wasn't happy, but I'd forgotten my runners... I think I came 48th.
mmm... nearly lunchtimeYou might have thought that the chastising I received might have put me off. No. I'm still at it. I don't run in my black shoes any more though - at least they weren't when I started ;-) Several from Portobello ran on Sunday lunchtime in the second of the Borders series races at Lauder. The course offered everything I think a cross country race should do. Nothing like the softies running on manicured lawns at Holyrood each January! Lauder offered a course just over 4 miles, which included: a loop around a playing field to split folk up; a tarmac path (boo!) to get to the tough ground; a trail section with treacherous boardwalks and footbridges slippy enough to fell anyone too swift in the corners; a good 3/4 mile up hill section on peaty ground; a nasty tussocky downhill half mile; 3 or more water jumps (yippee! I like them), some bog running, another up hill section through gorse bushes; some inter-field action; a submerged lane and another lap of the playing field to finish. Who couldn't enjoy that?
I think Johnny's vest would be under that jacket - James neglects to mention the foul weather.Whilst I still like playing in the mud, I've grown out of getting really mucky. Maybe my mother forced me to grow out of it. Lauder offered a high class of mud for the most part. The peaty ground meant that it was nice and springy underfoot and generally very clean. Unfortunately it all deteriorated in the last mile when in the section with the gorse bushes the ground got a bit more clayey (is that a word? The spell checker said it was!) and made a right mess of my now clean but wet trail shoes. The submerged lane part was definitely the muckiest bit.
I had started well, taking a surprise lead for the first half to two thirds of a mile (a very bad habit), but relinquished it to a very pointy elbowed Corstorphine runner. Shortly afterwards a couple of chaps from the very same club zipped away - they must be doing something right - but not into the distance. I managed to keep yo-yo-ing away with the guys in second and third, getting within a few seconds of them both in the second half of the race. Perhaps if I'd been brave enough to vault the gates in the inter-field section I could have had a good go at them. Note: I must practice vaulting in training. Still able to see the leader I finished in 4th out of 150-200 runners. Not so bad. 27:21 by my watch. Peter followed a couple of minutes later, with Mary and Rachael bringing it home for the ladies.
A top quality cross country race. Showers were in short supply and no food was forthcoming, to my knowledge. However, if you manage to do the whole series of six races, there's a lot of value to be had from the £12 series entry fee. See you at Dunbar on the 13th,
Report James Harrison
Results here
Peter says...
This was a great race over a great course. Only I had run far too hard the day before and getting out the car into the lashing rain with wooden legs was really discouraging. Why 2 races+ a weekend (for the last 3 weeks): that's just showing off isn't it? Well yes. But they have been short ones till now. The WoL half was a tough one and I felt like a bucket of whatever at Lauder. It took several laps of the rain soaked field to get warmed up and even then all the Dunbar boys took advantage. The second Ian went past vaulting over that gate. (I lacked the va va voom to vault it and pushed through the kissing gate like a softie.) I shouted that that was the proper way to do it and he shouted back "GOTCHA". Which indeed he had. Next time I will be fresher and aiming to get back some of the 8 places I dropped between rounds one and two. Compeed sorted the blister out though.
Photos - a big thanks to Stuart Hay (Dunbar). Who injured himself on a wire fence in round 1 and has been troubled since. So he was out on the course taking photos in the pouring rain. (Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.) Full set here.
Mary's BLOG
The 2 Ians.
