Most of my events this year have been planned out for months ahead but this one was a late decision. It was fairly local and sounded like a good course that would act as a great workout.
It was a 10 mile obstacle course race ran on a 5 mile lap on a equestrian course with some hills, a bit of water and lots of horse jumps which acted as the majority of the obstacles added to a couple of cargo net crawls. None of the jumps were partially challenging though in all honestly but did sap the energy levels and break up the running, of which there was a lot of.
As a huge bell was rang to start the race I took up my usual position tucked in just behind the leaders. Early on I was one of four runners in the leading pack. As the course developed with a succession of horse jumps one runner began to show his intentions by moving into the lead and pushing on. I stayed in close proximity ready to cover any further move me made and as we hit the first big hill I closed the gap.
It wasn’t long before another hill was upon us and I found myself on his shoulder before moving into the lead for the fist time on the down hill run that followed. This was approximately half way around the first lap so there was still a long way to go. I upped my effort levels to create a gap and within a couple of minutes I had a strong lead and I was still feeling very comfortable.
As I approached the ‘1 mile to go’ marker (of the first lap) I started to wonder if the runners behind me would be carrying on for a second lap with myself or calling it a day at the 5 mile point. I completed the lap and set off to repeat what I’d just done. It was still extremely foggy out there and as much as I tried to look back of sections where the course doubled back on itself it was impossible to see how much of a lead I had built up.
A mile or so further on I saw the runner who has been in second place. He was now a spectator meaning I was even clearer out front than I thought I was. I knew now that baring any accidents this race was mine.
The remainder of the second lap went without incident. I was feeling strong, enjoying my running and getting word from the marshals that nobody else was in sight behind me. I felt good.
Before I knew it that ‘1 mile to go’ marker was upon me again. I cruised home happy to record another win.
This race wasn’t the most extreme of OCR’s I’ve done by any means. It was more of a cross country run than an obstacle race but still acted as great training and really good preparation for next weeks cross county race. It’s been a while since I’ve ran a ‘normal’ running race so looking forwards to it while strongly feeling slightly apprehensive. I guess I’ll find out just how fit I really am at the moment.