This week I have confirmed to myself twice that I am MAD
Firstly on Friday evening I went into the kitchen put the kettle on and made a cup of tea. I then made Daniel and I a snack and took it through into the room to sit down and enjoy with my cup of tea. But my cup of tea wasn’t there, I went back to the kitchen and looked all around, it was nowhere to be seen, I checked the shelve next to my front door (en route between the kitchen and front room) not there, I checked the dining table and the kitchen once more! Then, and I don’t know why, I looked in the cupboard I keep all my pots in and there it was, my cup of tea!
Secondly on Saturday morning the Jones picked Alison and myself up at 10am and along with Mike and Andy, who they had already picked up we travelled for 2 and half hours, through snow, sleet, rain then heavy fog, and spent the next five hours wading around in the MUD, all to run just 6K! Though I am not sure that run is the right word!
M A D N E S S!
But that 6k was The National Cross Country Championship and will probably be the most challenging 6k of my VLM 2011 campaign!
I was the only one in the car that had taken part in last year’s National Cross Country and so I had an idea of waht was about to come and knew only too well that it would be hard! The unexpected snow on Saturday morning only heightened my concerns!
But when we got to Alton Towers there was no snow, only MUD, everywhere. We quickly found our fellow HPH and got our numbers and chips then wadded to the start line to wait for the Under 15 girls race to start, Bex and Ellie, appeared happy and excited despite having to wait in the cold due to a 30min + delay. In the previous races there had been some tumbles and sirens could be heard. Eventually the girls were off, on a shortened version leaving out the hill that seemed to have caused the worst of the tumbles.
By this time I was desperate for the loo and went in search of the portaloos, I climbed over fences and through barbed wire to avoid having to trek through quite so much mud. I decided to change inside the portaloo which had nearly as much MUD on the floor as there was outside.
I got back to the finish just in time to see Bex cross the line still looking strong, but the others said not one of the girls looked happy as they crossed the line.
The rest of the HPH team seemed to disappearleaving Alison and I wondering what time our race (the senior women) which was due to start at 2.20 would be? Did we strip off now or wait, would someone be back in time to hold our bags, just how much MUD was there out on that course, we moved to the road, the only place we could see that we could put our bags down and hop about on one foot without falling in the MUD to strip off our outer layers and sort our trail trainers out. Liz arrived back with us just as we heard them give a 10 minute announcement for our race, we slithered through the MUD and found our pen and lined up on the start line with 500+ others.
It is at this point you realise just how serious this is, 500+ athletes all lined up on the start line, all poised in a racing start stance. The race officials shouted at competitors to get their toes back over the line and then announced, you see this patch of green grass? Its the only bit you will see for the next 6K. I knew from my experience last year, I should not even try to keep up with the starting pace and so let them race ahead and within a few meters myself and a dozen other proud club runners, who im sure like me knew they would be bringing up the rear, were soon doing just that! I know I’m not as slim as I used to be but next to the lot in front of me I felt like Jo Brand! The course a complicate looping system meant you ran round one another several times and I was able to give the weeone my only HPH team mate in the race a big cheer on, though I’m not sure she heard me. The MUD was everywhere, we went up hill downhill and as I struggled back uphill Tom & H, true to form stood there cheering us on!
Then all of a sudden I was no longer at the back of the pack but I was at the front leading the leaders being chased by the likes of Liz Yelling, and captured on camera by Liz Jones – photo to follow!
I savoured my moment of glory
As I wound round the winding course I noticed the men lined up to start their race and wondered if there was a possibility that I would be lapped by the men as well, I heard the gun and for a while we ran round one another a sight and sound like I have never seen, 1300 men running almost silently through the MUD. It was like watching something from a wildlife documentary (I mean that as a compliment) I spotted and cheered on our own Dave, Shane and Mike before finally and thankfully I reached the turn off for my finish length and I settled down to enjoy a steady run in through the biggest puddle to the finish line.
I joined the rest of the HPH support crew to cheer on our men’s team. It was great to see their faces as they tackled the hills and went flying past us.
A hugh well done to all HPH who raced and supported and a big thank you to Liz and Chris for driving, Dave for organisiing and making sure we were entered, for Alison for your encouragement and for all the other HPH, who made it such a fantastic day!
ps I finished 549th out of 552
pps and a big thank you to everyone who supported Adele in her winterswim, she did fantastic 60 lengths in 45min 45 sec.
If you would still like to sponsor her you can still do so at
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