David Currie

I’ve said it before, but will say it again: there’s nothing like a Hants Cross-Country race to highlight the relative slowness of my running! Things were no different at the first race of this year’s league at Farley Mount on Saturday. I started the race too far back and had to jog up the first hill trying not to trip over the masses. I then spent the first of three laps overtaking people but for the remaining two I could just about maintain my position. This was despite having brought 7 supporters to cheer me on! I finished in 100th place, well down on previous years, which gives me plenty to work on for the rest of the season. Hopefully I’ll be getting more sleep by the next race and I’ll try not to have the celebratory roast lunch beforehand!
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As per last week’s post, we moved to Fritham for Tuesday’s run. I was pretty tired having cycled in to work as well as racing in the afternoon. I was therefore particularly despondent to see Neil doing multiple laps of each of the six ponds! I still can’t decide whether to run the Clarendon Way Marathon at the weekend – whether it will just tire me out further or will prove good training. It would help if I believed that I might actually manage to run round at less than top speed, but then I start to think, why not just go for a training run rather than enter a race?
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It was the Hursley 10K on Sunday and, unlike the previous weekend, I felt completely unprepared. It was certainly convenient being able to nip down the road, get my entry on the day, and nip back home to finish getting Emma ready. Warming up though my knees ached, my hamstrings were tight and I generally felt sluggish. It was therefore somewhat of a surprise to find myself sitting in third place shortly after the off. The first two runners continued to pull away and were never seen again once we entered the woods. At the 7k marker I was still in third place but could hear footsteps closing on me. It wasn’t much longer before I was passed and it was something of a relief to have someone to chase. I had to watch my back on the run-in but was pleased to finish in 4th place although half a minute slower than the previous year and over three minutes behind the winners.
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September is due to end prematurely as it’s getting dark earlier and we prefer to run from Fritham. Consequently, Tuesday was our last run from Rufus Stone for the year. I’m not sure it was particularly memorable – I spent most of the run discussing potential scoring systems for next year’s SOC summer series with Jon and Peter! At least I didn’t have to rush off to B&Q this week so could enjoy the pub afterwards.
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On Tuesday I’d cycled home in the rain. It wasn’t all that heavy and, it being a fairly short ride, I didn’t get too wet. Then I went running in the New Forest and got absolutely soaked. It was tipping it down as I drove to Rufus Stone with traffic crawling along the motorway. The GPX track below doesn’t start at the Stone because, having only just arrived on time, the group of runners huddling under a tree for cover weren’t about to wait for my watch to find a satellite before starting off! The only saving grace was that Christine had lent me her relatively new waterproof jacket to take for a test run in case I decided mine wasn’t up to an OMM in Wales so at least part of me stayed relatively dry.
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