Cross Country and injuries! Written on January 29, 2010, by johnh.
Last Saturday, whilst Ricky, Natalie and Anna were enjoying the delights of Milan, Rob Hope and myself were both flogging ourselves around a muddy Witton Park in Blackburn at the North of England Cross Country Championships. Both representing our athletics club, Pudsey and Bramley, we both finished in very respectable positions (especially considering it is our off season), with Rob coming home in 16th and me in 12th.
I was particularly pleased with my result as for the last six weeks or so I have being suffering with a bad case of Plantar Fasciitis, resulting in me only being able to run two or three times a week. Thankfully the course was quite tough, meaning speed was not the deciding factor. With this is mind I ran a tactical race, sitting in on the first couple of laps and then moving up through the field on the last lap. I lost a couple of places in a sprint finish for the line, but I couldn’t expect anything else with the paucity of my training.
Thankfully the injury is getting better (slowly) so hopefully I’ll be able to get back into full training soon. Race wise, next for me is a trip to the Republic of Ireland to take part in their Intermediate Cross Country Championships, before returning to the UK for the National, which is at one of my former haunts, Roundhay Park in Leeds!
John
