Keswick XC

The 4th race in a series of 5 for the Cumbria cross country league was held in Keswick on Saturday. The course was the same as the one used for the county championships in December last year, so it would be a good test to see if any improvement had been made.

A much bigger and stronger field lined up at the start, which was again in handicap formation.
James Douglas won again beating some top fell runners (Steele, Winskill, Heppelthwaite and  Abdelnoor).

I found it a lot tougher then the county championship race and was pleased to record a time some 35 seconds faster and taking 10th place.
My faster time might be down to Steve Angus who was  racing. I was ahead of him until the 3rd lap where he eased passed me. I tried to keep the gap respectable and he beat me  by 15 seconds.
No shame there as he is beginning to recapture his form from last year and I don't think I can realisticly expect to stay on level terms with him any more, making the nine standards fell race even more memorable for me.

Its a shame that the final race is on the same day as the Buttermere Round 22 mile road race, as I think I will be entering that again, Its good training for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks.

The "faster" group get ready.

Over the festive season I have eaten far to much rubbish, especially toffees (which I still have a mountain left to eat ) so I am now on my second day of eating healthier again, ( all tho I have just been to the pub and had 2 pints, but alcohol doesn't count).
Even with just 2 days of better living im feeling a bit more energetic.
I plan to get some longer fells run in this month and up my mileage slowly.