I had entered this race last minute because I was losing heart with my running and needed something to get my mojo back. I thought a nice 8 mile run around a forest, with beautiful scenery and against a bunch of people I’d never really raced before would do the trick. But it wasn’t quite the race I was expecting! It was nice to be off road for a change but I probably would have enjoyed it more had I had off road shoes....the yellow racing flats didn’t quite cut it! The paths that I thought would be nice to run on were either covered by thick snow or black ice and there were also hills! Killer hills! I’m not exaggerating when I say so many runners were not running up them!
Over 250 people gathered on the start line which was at the bottom of a steep climb. After the safety warnings, the hooter went and we were off. I stuck to the side to try and run in the snow rather than on the ice and got into a rhythm quite early on. It turns out that by the top of the hill, 300m or so from the start, I was third lady, and that’s where I was to stay the whole way round! I felt brilliant for the first 2 miles going through in 11 minutes!! Now I’ve seen the elevation chart below I know why! After that, I had to work hard. I struggled to stay on my feet in parts and my left hip, which had hurt ever since a fall in training 2 weeks before started to get aggravated by the twisting and turning. The ground I lost going up the hills, I made back on the downhill and flats and, at times, was running pretty well.
At the fourth mile marker I dropped back into fourth place, but not for long. I promised myself I was going to finish in a podium position so within minutes of being overtaken, I got myself back into third place and stayed there. The finish was a bit exciting. My legs had gone on the final climb and with multiple girls fighting for the third spot it was a case of who wanted it most. I managed to hang on! My time of 61:58 was respectable given the terrain, toughness of the course and the conditions we faced and is a good solid start to the 2012 season.
http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/sport/latest-sport-video/triathlon_sam_third_in_first_run_of_year_1_3516848
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