I headed to Clent Hills on Wed evening for the last in the worcs mid week series. Driving up the steep steep hill too the car park I could see this was not going to be easy!!We assembled at the start, were for some reason I thought I would start quite near the front, i put this down to the fact I was talking too the other BvH before we set off who are faster than me. So as we got going I was rapidly over took by quite a few runners but soon I thought if you can’t beat them join them, so with a speedy start we wound into some woods following a trail. It was quite uneven and downhill in parts instead of being cautious as normal I just went for it having great fun speedily running around the woods, obviously we had run down so I wasn’t surprised to find myself going through an uphill stretch but this wasn’t to bad I even overtook a few other runners. Then back onto a level path still in the woods before coming out into grass, that we just ran straight over I made up a bit of time hereafter this there was a hill which was getting steeper as I was running, some runners had started walking, I somehow kept running, then just as you thought you had got to the end of this hard part a corner covered by bushes hid the next challenge!!Turning left I was met with a vertical incline, well I was on clent hills so I wasn’t surprised that much, however half way up I ran out of steam, I had to walk a bit. However I carried on and before long I was running again, back into the woods for a second lap. This was 8k race an unusual distance, but another 4k seemed like a hard task at this point. I went for it again in the wooded area having great fun, but dreading those hills. I ended up running with a guy with very fetching pink shorts on!!We seemed to be sticking together before I knew it there was the first big hill, I ran but my running was getting so slow I decided I would be faster walking so that’s what I did, then I kind of jogged to the next part of the even steeper hill I tried to run but without the aid of oxygen wasn’t getting very far, so fast walking it was again. I knew this was coming to an end soon and back into the woods was fairly downhill or maybe anything seemed downhill after those steep hills. Anyway I went for it and finished the fourth race in 2nd position in my age cat. This meant in all four races I had maintained 2nd Place and I was pleased 1st place was kept throughout the series by Sarah Rock.
The facilities in clent were good a descent car park, refreshments and toilets on site. Also an amazing view.
This is the first time I have done a race serious and also this mulit terrain running is relatively new to me, I enjoyed the worcs mid week series as a whole and definitely recommend it especially if you want to try a different kind of running,multi terrain is muddy, fun and hard work. Also I’m hoping good experience for xc,I guess I will find that out shortly.
BvH did well and we won rather alot of wine between us!!
Stuart Pearson 3rd in ac
Linda Howell 3rd in ac
Sarah Rock 1st in ac
Suz West 2nd in ac
Well done Suz and fellow runners- sounds like a great race 🙂 Hope you all enjoyed your wine!
Thankyou Suz for your Worcester Mid Week Series Report. These kind of races may not do much for your leg speed,but they will invariably enhance your strength and endurance and improve/raise your general level of fitness. If you can cope with such multi-terrain running you should have no problems running cross country in the Autumn/Winter.However,planning your race schedule/commitments is desirable if you want to improve your performance over specific distances and terrrains.Do talk to the coaches at BvH + other experienced athletes/runners.
Congratulations to all those BvHers who wore their teal vests with distinction ;especially,Stuart,Linda,Sarah and Suz. I`m so pleased to hear that you are enjoying your running —– THAT IS IMPORTANT.
Well done Suz – sounds like you had a good, fun race. The course sounds so much better than the one it replaces – lookng forward to getting there again next year. Well done on your category position, and to Sarah for being 1st. Also well done to Stuart and Linda.