Edinburgh International XC

The first race of the New Year for me was as always the Great Winter Run event in Edinburgh where I usually compete in the domestic 4km race however this year my coach wanted me running the international 9km race instead. He knows best and plans out my season so I take his word for it that it's the best thing for me!! The race itself had some top class international runners who are always going to be flying off at the front and you never see them again! I also knew the conditions would be very tough under foot- I thought the snow would compact down and we'd just run on a hardpact surface, but it didn't seem to do this, it just stayed quite loose underfoot and the snow kept turning up. The lads in the 4km said it was difficult to run quickly on it and it felt as though your ankles were just twisting all the time. Everyone was in the same boat though so it was just a case of getting out there and adapting to the conditions.

My instructions were to run my own race at my own pace and not to go off too hard as I would pay for it in the latter stages. For once I took the advice of John as I knew many would go off quite hard and I could use them to chase later on in the race to chase down. The first lap of 6 wasn't that bad really, it was strung out as expected and I just settled in what must have been the low 20's behind a couple of the lads who were just in front of me in the Euro trial race in Liverpool. I slowly worked my way up to them on the 2nd lap and felt ok so kept pushing on. On the 3rd lap I got passed a few of the scottish athletes who were running together and my aim was to try and work away from them in an attempt to get a gap over Dave Norman who was just behind and I knew he was in very good form after his fast 10k road race over xmas. 

I now began to feel like I was getting moving, I was in 13th position and I'd opened up quite a large gap over the lads behind me and I could see the next group ahead, this was a couple of Eritrean athletes and a training partner of mine (from warm weather training last summer), Lee Merrian. I spent the next couple laps trying to close down that 100m gap. It may not seem much but those guys weren't slowing at all so I knew I had to really work hard if I wanted to get on the back of them. I found myself with what felt like sprinting in places just to try and give myself hope of reaching them as I knew if I could get onto the group of 3 on the final lap I could get away from them near the end.

Coming onto the final lap I had them within about 20m or so and with one final hard push I caught them. I sat in the group for a minute or so and decided to try and make a long run for home about half a mile out. I was surprised I managed to actually get away from all 3 of them before the hill but this was great for me as I knew if I could get up the hill ahead of them all I could sprint quite well and hold them off. I didn't look round at the top of the hill but I could hear someone; I knew it would be Lee though, I just worked my arms, picked up my knees and pushed all the way to the line coming home in 9th position. I turned round as I finished and there was Lee 3 seconds back followed by the Eritrean lads.

I was really pleased with my run as i'd given everything and felt strong all the way but even more so when I seen the results as it showed how close i'd actually gotten to the first 2 British lads who are both amazing athletes on the cross country. (and to be only 62 seconds behind the great man Bekele over 9k even if he did have an off day!!!)

All in all a good days work and fantastic start to the new year. I'm looking forward to racing even more now this season!

9km Race Results here