Run > Race

1st Race, 11s and under, monkey No 2 in his first race for Andover AC and his 1st XC race, a very wet and muddy course of 1.1K. He starts really well and is in 4th after the strat straight going into the woods. Round the lake and back up the hill and he has lost one place, powers up the last incline but cant get ahead of the 4th lad so finishes in a great 5th place out off over 40 runners..... and he loved it. (including the bag of sweets they all get for finishing)....

My self - walk the course then jogged it for a warm up, went over a few times in my spikes as no grip on the downs, so swithched to trails for the race, a 3 lap 7.5k route, short maybe but made up for in mud content.

Started near the back and settled in, feeling a bit flat, but was able to maintain a steady pace and get past a few whilst being taken a by a few, got into the second lap and was able to push and overtook 4-5 others with out being taken myself. Had to watch footing carefully as everything was leaf covered even the puddles which were plenty and the mud that was even more plentyful.

Tried to push on at the start of the 3rd lap but the fule tank exploded, and everything I had went to a crawl, lost 2 places and couldnt even fight back, the only good point being that I had pulled a big enough gap not be caught by anyone else. Only 4 men from Andover racing and I was last counter, an unusual position for me. Anyway crossed the line in a very wet and very, very muddy 31:37 (7.5K) in 51st place out of about 80-90 runners.