After breaking up for half term on Friday I was in a good mood and I was super excited for my first Kent XC League. On Friday night I was at home with my feet up watching some Netflix, which is a very rare occasion for me but I thought, I might as well, because I have the whole of half term to do my work. After having my usual bowl of carbonara pasta, followed by my usual strawberry milk, I was very full and ready for my bed. After being a boarding school for 6 weeks, I have learnt to love my double bed more than normal. After a late start compared to a triathlon, we arrived at Stanhill farm at 11:00 ready for a 1:20 start. I am always keen to get there with lots of time, because I don't like to be stressing out and rushing. Anyway after walking the course and soon realising it was a pretty flat course, I was rather happy. I had my cliff bar 2 hours before my race and had my last sip of water and lucozade. I went off on my warm up with Holly and we cheered some of the other TAC U15 runners in. Then after a few strides with Clara, I made my way to the start line, and by this point I wasn't really nervous, just excited. I was however worried my legs were tired as in the warm up they felt a bit sluggish, but I tried to ignore this because my legs often feel like this in a warm up. This was my first cross country race in a long time however I hadn't forgotten that the start is always pretty rough and pushy, this time it wasn't too bad, however I didn't get into a good position going into the first narrow bit of the course. I started near the back which I was fine about because I knew I didn't want to go off too fast and die at the end, so I gradually started picking people off and working my way up. The course was 3.5km so relatively short, which is almost like a long sprint, it was made up of three fields and we did loops of each of them. Before the race I had contemplated wearing trainers not spikes because the ground was very hard, which is unusual for a cross country race. I guess I can't complain because usually there is wind, rain and lots and lots of mud! In the end I went for very short spikes and this worked perfectly. Back to the race, I started near the back and had to pick off people, even though this worked very well, before I knew it I was in the last 1km of the race. I kept on pushing until I got to a girl (Carlotta), whose at my school but racing for Blackheath & Bromley. This very quickly turned into a rather long sprint finish and as hard as I tried in the last 50m, I couldn't get back in front of her. I just couldn't push my legs any further and I had to accept defeat over her. In that last 20m I did look back to just check no one was near me, which I do regret as I lost my momentum and you never know I might have just caught her, but we learn. The look in my face says a lot, I had just pushed myself to my absolute limit and I was exhausted. Once I crossed the line I was pretty happy because I had done a lot better than I had expected, but then again I was annoyed because I had lost my sprint finish. This was the first cross country race of the season and I was really pleased with it, and it was great to get some experience. I am so excited for the cross country season now and I am pleased with how I started it. My overall position was 13th out of 31 as the U17 age group, which I was happy with but I definitely wish to improve on this as the season progresses. have my next Kent XC League in two weeks time but between then and now I am off on holiday and I will get the chance to do some warm weather training. I hope you have all had a good weekend!
G x
5 Comments
Maggie
10/16/2016 03:57:09 am
Do you know what time you got?
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Liz
10/16/2016 12:05:45 pm
think her time was 13:37
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11/17/2017 08:44:59 pm
Doing exercise and other outdoor activities after a long tiring semester is a fun thing to do. Especially when you have your friends at your side joining every activity that you do. I remember my friend Cassie, she always drags me to different outdoor sports. At first, I really don't enjoy playing tennis, practicing judo and swimming with her. But suddenly I realize all of these activities helps my physical and mental health. It relieves my stress and I really enjoy doing all those things.
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Ross Thomson
10/20/2016 11:18:32 am
This is really well written, and motivating nice work!
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Grace
10/20/2016 11:26:06 am
Thank you!
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HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
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