Running towards London: Manor Farm Cross Country

This morning I ran the Today's Runner series XC at Manor Farm on the banks of the Hamble near Southampton. What a beautiful day! Cold, but unbroken blue skies all day. As this was a rare cross country outing for me, I'd hoped for mud, mud, mud, to make up for all the road work I've done. In fact it was quite firm, with mud only making a guest appearance half way through the performance.

As XC courses go, this is one of the easier ones - no altitude to speak of, just a few short steep bits, some steady inclines, and a steep hill right at the end for dessert. It's about 4.5 miles. The main feature is the narrow trails giving few passing opportunities: position at the start therefore being very important.

I had a very poor position at the start!

The first mile or so was spent pushing past, over and around people. I overtook team mates who'd had a better start. Was it wise overtaking John and Graham though? I didn't have any form compared to them - was this foolish? Was I going off too quickly? Up ahead I could see young Richard who's getting better and better with each race, ie further in front of me. I could also see slightly (OK, lots) older Richard - could I catch him? And there's Ruth - can I catch her?

No. Yes. Yes. No. No.

John and Graham caught me again. I caught up distance on Richard, Richard and Ruth, but didn't get close enough to be in with a shot of catching them. I guess I did go off too quickly, but didn't slow much as very few overtook me.

The team did well. The men were 3rd, women 7th, and overall we were 3rd=. I finished 18th - my best placing ever. I don't have any other individual results yet.

Great fun. Just wish there'd been more mud!

Thanks to Chris for her photographic assistance. Here's the album:

Russ finishing strongly: