"You can't control the winds, the race is won by your ability to adjust your sails"

Now had you said this to me on Sunday I would have given you a slap, lol. As im sure many others racing across the UK would have. But i guess this quote does make some sense. With the shocking weather we are having at the moment, we say the same thing every year to each other- "just get on with it". It is bad though that year after year we put up with it, race in it, and struggle through it... People are right, it is the same for everyone-- CRAP! After the race on sunday at manchester it was interesting to see everyones reaction in the kit collection room, I think shell shocked is the word. No one could really believe what time they had run. they like me had gone there to run fast, give it some balls and crack out a Pb, but nearly all were left a tad gutted. Shame really as the field was very strong with a brilliant line up of British guys ready to run fast.

The usual barage of abuse followed elsewhere about people making excuses, exaggerating the affect of the wind etc and to be honest im not going to go into it. Im sure everyone is bored of hearing about it now. The race came, didnt go to plan for whatver reason and thats it... Move on to the next one. It was good to see Haile there at the weekend. It always amazes me (1) how small he is and (2) how nice he is. After the race I was whisked away for a drugs test. The lady literally grabbed me at the finish line and stayed with me while I changed, walked to the testing room and sat waiting to pee.

The testing room was inside a virgin active gym. It was very nice and meant that those being tested could warm down on the treadmills. Imagine the scene.. I hop on a treadmill with haile on my right hand side and sergey lebid on the left hand side. With screwed legs after racing 10km, now is not the time to start cranking the machine up, but with those pair busting out 6 minute mile warm downs I thought I would jump on the band waggon...and subsequently quickly fall off!!! Well not off the treadmill but found myself whacking the "slow down" button on the running machine very quickly.......to the comment of "bit too fast" from the ukranian machine himself. Testing rooms are sombre places. Those conducting the tests are often very serious- they have to be- after all- who could crack a smile when watching then handling somone else's piss. Im always worried about the pee test. You never know if your going to be able to "go". Ive heard of cases where athletes have sat there for 3 hours and still cant muster up so much as a dribble!

Well i was on to this game right from the start. I grabbed three bottles of H20 and necked 1.5 litres in seconds. Luckily for me i was already suitably prepped as i had been "holding some in" from before the race (if you get what I mean). Shock horror to me, I needed to go right away... this news was met with a slight smile from the testers as I was marshalled to the toilet immediately. I wont go into the ins and outs of what happened but lets just say i filled the beaker while a rather nervous looking guy watched on- closely- to make it was in fact me that was peeing. (hey who knows what i had hidden in my shorts!). The best moment for me though was one that i will never forget. Haile walks into the testing room holding his "sample". The tester guy turns to him and says "That was quick, a good clear sample too".... to which Haile replys: "Well im not going to be dehydrated after a 10km am i, it is too short". Needless to say i quickly push my "orange sample" out of sight!!! lol.

Mixing with those guys, all be it in rather weird circumstances, is always good. It gives you a lift and makes you want to keep training hard. Running is definately a sport where you only get out what you put in. Hard work is always rewarded some where down the line and races such as this one make me want to go away and train harder. I always ask myself "what would it take to get up there with those guys?", and "Next time I need to mix it more with them".....the answer to the former question is bloody hard graft. Chris Thompson for example lead the way on sunday. He is always someone who i have looked up to, and he showed why at the weekend. He gave it real balls from the gun and put himself where he needed to be-- in the race up front. I take heart from that as im sure many other brits do- theres no reason why a lot of us cant mix it up there. It just takes time to break the mentality we have at the moment of settling at the pain barrier, rather than smashing through it.....one thing ive learnt is that running hard hurts. You either choose to make it hurt more or settle for second best.

So next main race for me will be the Euro cup 10km in Maderia. The next 10 days will involve hard preparation for that. It will be nice to get away again to race somewhere new, and more importantly race hard against competition that I know will be tough. Starting the season with a 10km is a break from the norm for me so Im hoping the legs wont be too shocked when they see 25 laps to go. Im already picturing the lap counter on my daily runs and practicing switching off from it. Cant wait to put the track spikes on though and run in a straight line for a change- rather than up and down, through mud and across fields.

I normally end a blog by highlighting a great performance from the weekend of racing and this one is no exception. I dont think enough people have mentioned just how well andy vernon ran at lboro. A pretty much solo 7.57 in those conditions is a storming run, and shows he is in shape to go well now over 5km. Lets hope for better weather so we can all get racing hard, against ourselves and the competition rather than the elements.

Run like the wind! (not against it!)