"The Northern's"

After a quiet start to the week with some easy running on a slight knee niggle, the week ended with a fantastic race at "The Northern Cross Country Championships" at Sherdley Park, St Helens (pictured but without the mud!).

On a very cold, windy but sunny afternoon over seven miles of a rolling and extremely muddy course, it offered the chance to race with (or at least be on the starting line with!) some of Britain's top xc runners. With a team of six to count in the Championship, and due to injuries and illness there being only six Macclesfield Harriers to make it to the start, everyone had to race hard and finish. No pressure then! I had a really good race and whilst at one stage being in fourth position for the team, dropped back to sixth. But remembering one of my "running intentions" from a previous blog, on the last big climb of the day I dug in to work alongside & then pass the team's fifth placed athlete. With lungs and legs on fire I remembered the track coach shouts of "relax those shoulders!", shortened my stride & got the arms working, dug in for the last fast mile and came in to a huge cheer from team members & supporters alike. One even said I looked "quite relaxed". I'm not sure if they meant on the course or at the finish!

It will be back to a few easy recovery days now, and following a mid week track session it's on to the first road race of the year next week end over the very fast course of the Alsager 5.

"Reaching New Heights"

Another good base week with over 30 plus miles added, and with no races this week it was a mix of steady running plus a couple of faster interval sessions and a great hill run over the local Langley 7 road course on a glorious sunny bright but very cold day, which offered great views to the Peak District above and the Cheshire Plain far below.

However the highlight of the week didn't surround me but in supporting my 15 year old son Matt in the annual Vault Manchester polevault event held at Sportcity (site of the Manchester Commonwealth Games and home to the famous "B of the Bang" art sculpture inspired by Linford Christie's comment about getting the best start in the 100m ), and giving vaulters whatever their standard the opportunity to compete with other athletes from around the country, whilst at the same time getting to watch later in the day some of the best polevaulters in the world, both in the warmup area and from very close in during the competition. Matt had a great competition finishing seventh in his age group but more importantly increasing his PB by 12cm to 2.82m. Just to be a spectator was great and really emphasised what a fantastic sport athletics in all its forms can be.

Next weekend it's back to cross country for me and as I sit typing this I can hear the rain belting down outside and ensuring another long afternoon out in the mud!

"Running Intentions"

As we are now well into January and all the resolutions are already broken it's time to set my targets and intentions for the year.

1. To be at least as quick as last year in every equivalent race starting with the Alsager 5 road race on 1st February.

2. To set a whole new set of PB's. Not difficult this is I enter a new category Veteran 50 in July!

3. To run my first road half marathon for 10 years at Stafford in March with Nigel from "Running From The Reaper" and The Swift White Peak Half in May with members of Runcast Tv.

4. Run the remaining XC Championships at maximum effort and holding off my nearest rival through to the end of the season!

5. To target some summer fell races for the first time in many years, including the Staffordshire Moorlands Summer Series.

6. To support my club Macclesfield Harriers & AC at as many track & field meets as I can, both as a competitor (800/1500/3000m) and official.

7. Buy a Flip video or other compact video add some content to Runcast Tv and maintain this blog on a regular basis!

8. Run the final big climb at the annual Shutlinsloe Fell Race (May Bank Holiday), which I have run for the last 28 years.

9. Remain as injury free as possible by regular stretching!

10. Drink less caffeine!

Well the last one has gone out of the window already but there's hope for the other nine!

"Cross country and the weather to match!"

A week of steady running only interrupted by the first track session of the year (minus 6 degrees and snowing!) culminated in the Cheshire County Cross Country Championships and one of the best events of the year at Knight's Grange in Winsford. Again in sub zero temperatures it was an early start to the day as my daughter ran in the Under 11's race and brought home a team bronze in her first county champs. A great result!

The senior men's championships is always the final race of the day and despite hundreds of feet usually churning up and softening the course, with the temperature never going above freezing the course ran very hard and fast (too fast for me!). Four laps of a gently undulating course took its toll but I knocked a couple of minutes off last years time over the seven miles of the race and the team took team bronze (although I was just outside the counters). This is a good indicator that I am at least as fit as this time last year. Something which is important to me as this year I will hit 50!

For cross country runners this is really now the sharp end (and best bit) of the season with the Northern and National championships to focus on plus the last round of the Manchester League where the team is fighting to stay up in the top division. I'm also looking forward to a local 5 mile road race in a couple of weeks where hopefully Phil from Runcast TV is going to race and bring his camera to record the event.

As everyone has started to list their running targets for the year (including the track coach!), next time I will commit to print my thoughts for the season and year ahead which will certainly help to bring some focus. As they say once it is in print, you are committed!

"New Year, old challenges!"

A great first weeks running to launch the New Year. After a couple of good hilly training runs the cross country season got into full swing again this weekend. Round 4 of the Manchester and District League saw the annual visit to a great course at Woodbank Park in Stockport with three laps (six miles) over a frozen and challenging course including a fast opening mile of each lap paid for by a sharp ascent which really put the body into the read line zone! Hard work was rewarded by a midpack finish and hopefully a respectable position in my age group after the last fixture of the season in a couple of weeks.

Today I got the legs going again with an easy four miler around one of the local parks, which whilst having a picturesqe covering of snow had you watching your footing, which is vital as it's now only five days to the annual county cross country champs which marks the start of the "championship" sharp end of the season.

So an easy couple of days with a track session just to keep things sharp will be what's needed to get to the start line in one piece!

"Forest Trails & Christmas Tales"

The twelve days of Christmas always seem to be the same for runners, good intentions are derailed by family, friends, visitors and alcohol all at a time we are trying to get our annual mileage up to what ever target we have set!

This year for me it was no different. Despite a couple of great runs in the days up to Christmas Day the next few days proved more difficult to get out. The highlight of the last week however was a fifteen minute run with my daughter through Whinfell Forest in the Lake District as we took of couple of days away at Centre Parcs. As with all young athletes, Sarah my daughter only has two speeds, fast and stop! I'm not sure what was worse, getting up at seven am in the morning "as I had promised and we never break promises do we dad!" or trying to keep up with her once she knew we were nearly home. Very soon she is going to be pushing me to my limit!

Yesterday the year finished off with a great run over the local Kerrige Ridge which offers fantastic views over the Cheshire Plain to Manchester, Liverpool and beyond. It's a tough climb but well worth the effort. A great end to 2008 and onwards to another running year!