New year, new start

It seems a tad strange to write about finishing fifth in a race, especially when I know three of the four people ahead of me who clearly did better. But yesterday was a very significant day for me: it achieved a big missing element on my cv: finishing high enough in a county championships to be asked to represent the county, but more significantly ended what I would describe as eight months of terrible form and not enjoying races, to the point where I was almost not bothered anymore, something that I was afraid to admit too loudly for fear of judging myself as a quitter and not knowing what else to do. 

Setting into a good pace, pre-fall.

Like two seconds later...

Yesterday, as I settled into a large group behind the leaders, was the first time in a long time that I felt like I was in control, fit, and able to respond to what might happen. Unfortunately I wasn't quite able to take advantage of that feeling: firstly three minutes in I felt the side of my shoe rip open to the point where I was worried it would come off, before I then hit the deck with a fair amount of force as my legs disappeared under me rounding a corner 10 minutes later.

I don't like to be pigeon-holed, but falling over in cross country races seems to be my forté. The highlight of that 'career' being the infamous YouTube clip, closely followed by the unfilmed 'trip over a tuft of grass' at National XC 2014. Like both of those, today's simple slip as I rounded a tight, downhill right-hander at the Worcestershire County XC Champs saw me bounce straight back to my feet, which is what I hope I am more known for. Not much chance of that!

Quite the hole.

Like a whole other foot-hole...

Although I winded myself as I became intimate with the ground, I managed to keep it together enough to take the fifth spot and was honoured with receipt of a piece of A5 white paper which has eluded me like gold dust. It's significance: automatic selection to represent Worcestershire County at the inter-counties competition in March, if, I could competently and clearly fill out my details and return the water-soluble 80 gram per square metre parchment to the officials clean and ASAP before they scarper. Another challenge. 

I've spent weeks worrying that January 2015 had been my 'now or never' moment: I was in the form of my life 12 months ago and it had been my best shot to quality before injury put pay to that. Yesterday I proved to myself that I'm still capable and I've have cast aside those demons. I look forward to lining up along side many of the people I competed against yesterday in two months time as teammates, but more importantly today I find myself looking forward to doing some races again and exacting revenge on those who eluded me today. Be wary fellow competitors, because my confidence is back. And in the next race I may not tumble. 

I just need some new shoes first. 

The elusive piece of paper, whose durability
was questionable in the conditions.

A Year Without a PB

It sounds almost defeatist, but in fairness PBs were never my goal this year.  It would have been nice to get one for sure and I did try on a couple of occasions, but this year - a very mixed year - I set out to win some races and have resulted with lots of achievements, which I'd like to analyse it numerically.

5 1/2 race wins.  3 1/2 if you take out parkruns, which most people rightly would.  The Worcester Marathon, the Bulmer's Bash and the Pangbourne 10K have in common that they were all taken by me.  And so would the Iron Runner 10K, had the absence of a marshall at a critical junction less than 1km from the end not meant that I ended up in the next village.  So I give myself a 1/2 win for that....they gave me a consolation bottle of wine after all!

1 course record.  At the Bulmer's Bash on a tricky course around the apple orchards, slicing a couple of minutes of their previous best. And they gave out bottles of Bulmers at the end, fantastic marketing if you ask me as I now love the stuff.

19 seconds. My winning margin in the Worcester Marathon back in April.  It doesn't matter that I let a six minute lead from mile 19 all but evaporate. I crossed the line first in what I look back at being the highlight of my year.  Regardless of whether local media bothered to get my name correct or not.

3 county medals.  That's two gold and one bronze.  A least it's meant to be bronze anyhow, it's a bit of a meh-colour.  So I was county champion in the half marathon, multi-terrain championships and somehow claimed the bronze in the 10K champs despite a poor poor run.  They look colourful in my cabinet though.

A decent prize haul from the Worcestershire
Half Marathon Championships in June.

2 second places. Which luckily is less than my number of first places, otherwise that wouldn't look good.

0 pbs. Actually I have to look back to September 2014 for my last one, a mouth watering sprint for the line to clock 32:59 for a 10,000m in Stretford.  That's a long spell without, but in all honesty I'm not too motivated for records at the moment, so just call me Mo Farah and we're done.

3150. The number of miles run this year.  Or in all honesty 3149.9, but my second highest ever after 2013, despite being injured that year as well.  Miles doesn't equal fitness though and I'd say I was fitter in both 2013 and 2014, based on absolute times.

So in conclusion it's been a mixed year where I've often struggled for fitness, form and many times enjoyment.  But I'm looking forward to 2016 and attempting to gain selection to represent Worcestershire for cross country at the Country Championships this coming weekend.