The weather forecast didn’t look too bad for Saturday, but when I arrived at Broxburn Academy it was cold, overcast and drizzling.  judged how much clothing to take up to the start (lots) and started to jog out of the car park. Ah good, two more Harriers – Chris and Gordon – a better turnout than last year. We managed to locate Dave in the gloom to collect our numbers and started to warm up. Although ‘warm up’ was not an accurate description as the rain got heavier. At the last minute I reluctantly shed longs and Harriers top and huddled amongst 200-odd other runners. The time-keeper was also apparently unimpressed with the conditions and had to be called a couple of times.

We were off! Oh, what’s this? A path!!! It didn’t quite feel right for cross country and I avoided it and ran on the grass for a bit. Not quite back to full fitness after a cold, I ran quite steadily with no heroics – which was slightly depressing with seemingly hundreds of runners in front. The course was 3 x 3km laps of path, grass and only a little bit of mud (how disappointing). There was also a short lung-bursting hill which was good for dropping people.
Continue reading →