Wedgnock Winter Mud & Mayhem - Race 3 - 31 January 2009...

Distance: 10k (6.2 miles)

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
00:42:22

Finishing Position: 2
Number of finishers: 122
Putting me in the top: 1.63%

My loving other half Emma's Birthday… and here I was lining up to race a muddy and challenging 10km race! The course was the worst it'd been all series really really muddy. Clubmate Connor Carson had been rapidly improving as a runner in the buildup to this race, and had finished 7th in the last wedgnock race whilst wearing road shoes! This time he had the proper footwear and was likely to be a lot closer.

The race started, and what I remember of it was Phil Gould heading off into the lead, Nathan Holmes (who'd finished 2nd in Race 1, 3rd in race 2), Connor Carson and I were all fairly level pegging for second place, though I tended to sit at the back of the group.

As we entered the forest on the second lap Connor and Nathan began to pull away from me, and I didn't feel there was much I could do! I let them go, and the margin was getting bigger – possibly 15m or so as we started the final lap, though stuck in my mind were words of encouragement from my dad to 'dig deep' and 'stay with them'. Up the biggest climb in the forest I wasn't closing at all, and already felt I was pushing to my limit – then as we reached the top of the course the pace of the other two seemingly dropped, and with a few hard descents and strong turns I had caught them, and soon passed Nathan, and then Connor – I told Connor to 'keep up'... I meant it in a friendly way – he's a club mate and I wanted him to do well! Though looking back I guess it could've sounded like I was trying to jokingly taunt him, heheh.

As I passed Connor I tried to push on and break, though in my haste to do so I slipped and fell to one knee, but momentum managed to keep me moving and I stumbling back to both feet, though almost tripped Connor in the process. Nathan came past again as we hit the harder packed mud, and Connor followed him – once again I felt that was it and that I'd lost them – I was done!

Out of the forest and down the track, I just tried to hang onto the back of the guys – I know Nathan is a fast road runner, so I wanted to try and break ahead of him early if I could to avoid a sprint finish. Halfway round the field I drew level, and on the final section of the field I pushed hard to try and break away… I knew neither Connor or Nathan had come with me, or at least that they weren't on my shoulder, but I daren't look back. I pushed on, lungs ready to explode, but I was determined not to ease off.

I finished – absolutely elated with my performance, I turned round to see Connor finish in 3rd, and a defeated Mr. Holmes coming in 4th. The result made it a Kenilworth Runners 1,2 & 3 on the podium thanks to another stonking performance from Phil Gould to take first place. This has to have been one of my strongest runs to date.