"The End Of Summer"

I'm sat here after the final track and field meeting of the season and the rain has begun to belt down (again!). I have just returned from the Stanney Oaks Athletics Track in Ellesmere Port having run a season's best 11.39 in the 3k (by19 seconds!). Compared to the Northern League the Cheshire T&F League is not nearly as sharp, particularly in the middle orders and I was able to draw on a couple of rivals from Crewe and Nantwich AC to what for me was a perfectly paced race and a great end to the season.

All in all it has been a great week of running involving speed, distance and racing. In addition to the track meet early in the week I ran a couple of good tempo sessions. But the key run of the week was yesterday's 11 miler across the Kerridge and Rainow hills. For once I managed an early (6.30am) start and in an hour and forty covered a mix of good climbing, steady descending and slow sight seeing to get a flavour of the areas industrial past. This included a run through Ingersley Vale Mill built as a cotton mill in 1792 and only closed about ten years ago when it was ravaged by fire. It reminded me that sometimes when we are out running we forget what is around us and even in the middle of the countryside the industrial past is never far away.

There will be a break in racing now for a couple of weeks which will give me the chance to do some quality longer track, tempo and hill sessions in preparation for the cross country season. I'm also looking forward to the World Wide Festival of Races "Dream Inspires" run in Oxford in early October.

Annual mileage - 846