Mud, cakes, coffee and a bit more mud

Yesterday saw the second cross country meet and the first of the Mid Lancs series at Wilsons Playing Fields at Hyndburn, but this was a whole different beast to the first race at Leigh.

As we pulled up the junior races were in full force and I couldn't help but notice all the children I passed had muddy hands - I probably should have recognised this as a sign of what was to come and got back in the car but on we went to the fantastic TAC Gazebo.

We were greeted here by the usual assortment of cakes, coffee and smiling Trawden juniors who were busy celebrating another round of fantastic performances with Haribos.

The weather had taken a bit of a turn from the last race and after heavy downpours all week there was much more mud. At least this definitely did away with the obligatory "which shoes" debate, there was only going to be one option today and that was spikes!

Now, we all had spikes but they were all new, clean and shiny and, well, really rather pretty, but it was starting to look like that wouldn't be the case after the race (gutted). So off we went for a couple of laps of the field (in my case to actually practice running in my shoes rather than warm up) which soon put paid to the worries about mucky shoes, they were already filthy and I heard a few people complaining of wet toes. Well that was that then!

Soon it was time to head out to the start line with my seven other Trawden teammates (another fantastic showing ladies) and my lovely (if not terrified) sister-in-law Sophie who was warmly welcomed into the TAC camp despite running for the "dark side". And with the bang of the starter's gun we were off...

Now what you can't see from the start line is that the first few yards of the course were on a slope, so unless you happened to have positioned yourself on the right hand side, you were going to have to try and pass through what can only be described as a scene from the Chuckle Brothers to get on to the main field. This field was muddy and slippy and the slope had people falling over already. Quite funny really and I had a smile on my face all the way round this first part.

As I made my way over the course this smile definitely faded, it was much more technical than last time and was already really muddy having had the juniors and faster ladies passing through.

I completed what I think was the first lap through the woods, over the field and into the trees at the other side. I took on some logs (and lost) gaining myself my first running war wound of a grazed shin (a very proud moment in my running career) and scrambled up the little but very muddy hill out of the woods and back up to the field.

I was finding it tough, the grass was sapping my energy, I was finding the muddy and boggy bits hard to negotiate and quickly had to alter my plan of attack (which had been to just run straight through them) when I realised that every time I put my foot down the mud was going to try and steal my shoe!

I had no watch, no idea of my pace or speed and, most importantly, absolutely no idea how much of this torture was left before me. I decided to just run as well as I could and hope for the best (and try not to waste too much energy sniggering at the lady in front of me who had clearly already had a full on sit down in the mud).

The Trawden support crew were out in force and after screaming at Wayne to find out how long was left to run I very nearly gave up when he informed me that I'd pretty much done one small loop and I still had a much larger loop to go (I'm starting to wonder if ignorance is bliss or whether I really should be looking at the course maps before I set off).

On I plodded and on and on and on went the course through the woods seeming to take forever to navigate. I managed to pick a few runners off but to be honest time, position, etc, wasn't really a priority, the only thing I could focus on was getting round and to the finish.

I started to see daylight again and seemed to be finally making my way out of the woods. I could see that the men's race had already set off and reckoned that surely a left turn out of the woods and I'd be home and dry. That is until I spied Nick out on the route taking photos (thanks Nick) and he let me know I still had another loop of the woods to do. Aargh!

I carried on, making my way over the field to the other side and the final(!) loop but the faster men started coming through and I began to hate absolutely every second of the run. Don't get me wrong, those I knew were shouting support and encouraging words as they passed, which was ace and very gratefully received, but to the majority I was a massive inconvenience who was in the way. I tried my best to stay to the side and let them through but kept getting pushed towards the nettles and brambles, and despite running neck and neck with another female runner I had no chance of overtaking her as I couldn't pull out owing to the constant stream of speedy males passing by.

I tried to speed up to get out of this horrible position as fast as I could and soon approached the final muddy uphill scramble which sapped every last ounce of energy out of my legs.

I knew the finish line was close and could see and hear Anne (what an amazing run she had!) cheering me on, but then I also saw the final sting in the tail, one last big muddy bog to navigate before I could round the corner onto the final straight. I can't lie, it very nearly tipped me over the edge. I was spent and I had nothing left to give. Normally I can pull a pretty spectacular (if I do say so myself) sprint finish out of the bag and despite all my teammates cheering me on that just wasn't happening. So I dragged myself slowly over the finish line whilst apparently doling out fantastic dirty looks at anyone who asked me how I was enjoying it (sorry ladies).

Just time to cheer Sophie in (who had to stop and pull her shoe from the mud) then retrieve the kids from the tent (and the cakes) before it was time to cheer the men in.

Continuing on the theme from the very successful ladies team the men also put in some pretty impressive performances but the prize for the best sprint finish of the day has to go to Colin who picked off around four other runners on the final straight (there were some sore throats after cheering that finish!).

We were all done and it was back to the tent with coffee and cakes being served by tea lady Dave.

What did I learn from this race? The races ARE going to get muddier as the winter progresses, to try and not be disappointed, different courses equal different times, but one thing will always be a constant: the support from your TAC teammates.