Breakfast at Sarti is a welcome consolation to being stranded in Glasgow with a puncture and an obscure tyre size that no-one seems to stock, so I'm waiting. Since yesterday actually. I've been here before and the coffee and scrambled eggs are too good to miss. A breakfast to remember. Last night was to hear a lecture by Oscar Pistorius, or Dr Pistorius as we now say, as he also was awarded an Honorary Degree from University of Strathclyde. What do we think about that?!
There was indeed cake at Sherdley Park. A choice of brownies and millionaires shortbread. One of each, obviously. But it was deserved, I felt. Again, a B Team counter, but this time I feel it was more hard fought. Overlooking the fact that Cross Country is a team event, I'd planned to subtly hang behind one of my club mates and take it from there. However, after the first couple of bends I accidentally found myself in front, and then two of them resolutely hung on my shoulder from there.
No matter what tactic I tried, I couldn't get them to pass. Lap 2 and tried to drag them out, but still they hung on, so on lap three it was coming to down to a big finish. It was difficult to express any kind of 'move' at Sherdley in relation to a change of running speed. From the gun the gentle descent to the first bend and then the steep descent to the next revealed soft sodden ground that was hard to run, even downhill. Energy sapping at best. We blamed the girls, obviously, for churning it up in the race before!
I held my place and managed a few overtakes for club points on the home run. A good effort I think, not that I'm sure my combatants were aware of the battle I was engaging them in. This was mostly going on in my head. It was another sunny day and I don't mean to suggest it was idyllic, my failure to engage with XC has been expressed many times here, but there was a certain charm to the event. I still find it kind of 'random' though as a running episode. In other parks there is the illusion you are running somewhere.
You get a feel for the distance. But at Sherdley, it's a small park and the course loops backwards and forwards, kind of like trying to fold up one of those pop up tents back into it's bag. And the park has a valley running through the middle, so each lap was a 'down-up-hairpin', down-up-hairpin', down-up-hairpin', down-up-hairpin', 'big loop round back to the start', 'repeat x3'. Awesome! It's Wythenshawe next, on the XC scene. I don't when. I'm not sure even if I'm even destined to make it home today. More coffee please.
