A cold & wet day saw a small group of Eagles accept an invitation to take part in the 2013 Middlesex County Cross Country Championships at the nearby Wormwood Scrubs on the 5th January 2013. The Wormwood Scrubs parkrun takes place at the same location so I was familiar with most of the course but I was not ready for the sodden grass areas and bog like stretches along the top section of the Scrubs.
I arrived nice and early to try to take in some of the junior races only to realise that my Garmin was nestling safely at home still charging so I made the round trip home to finally join my fellow Eagles keeping themselves warm inside the TVH clubhouse. We ventured outside for our warm-up and then to cheer on the Eagles women as their race started and it did not take long for them to return for their second lap and report on how treacherous the conditions were.
It was soon time for the men to line up for the start of our approximate 12km race and I was off and running well behind the main pack. I clearly was not feeling the love for the conditions as I found it hard going, especially wading through the bog sections that had the distinct smell of bovine waste lingering around. I decided to treat this as a training run rather than a race but at the final stretch I picked up the pace to take down a couple of runners ahead of me.
I’m glad that I attended and ran but it was tough work slogging around grass sections that slowly sucked all the energy out of my legs while the bog sections tried to suck the shoes off my feet.
- Official time: 1:03:55
- Garmin time: 1:03:57
- Category: Senior Men
- Finishing place: 139 / 148
