Welsh Regions XC Champs

Race: Welsh Regional XC Championships, Newtown (9k+)

Time/Position: 37.29 (104 from 159 [3rd V55])

This course was a quagmire two years ago and I was expecting a similar experience today after lots of rain. In the event, it was a bit drier (a relative term as there was still a great deal of cloying mud!) and I had a reasonable although unspectacular race. It is always a very strong field, of course, with the best cross-country runners selected from every Welsh region, and I was in the 55-64 category for the first time (I think it's the fourth time I have represented North Wales at this event). It felt very similar to Bala last week, as I started quite cautiously but managed to retain a decent pace for the remaining laps. I scored in second place for the 55-64 team, North Wales came away with the silver medal, and I picked up a pleasing bronze in the competitive individual race.

Bala XC

Race: Bala XC 9k (North Wales League race 3)

Time/Position: 39.16 (52 from 144 [1st V55])

After my puzzling implosion in the season opener at Trefnant, I took a deliberately conservative approach here on this new course through the farmland east of the Tryweryn. Although flat, the course gave a classic cross-country outing with some deep bog mixed with drier bits and a gravel track. I usually pride myself on my pacing, which made the Trefnant issues even stranger, so I plodded fairly slowly around the first lap. I started moving in the right direction on the second lap as the course got even boggier to become a classic XC mudbath, picking up a few places but never really moving particularly quickly! My age group rivals weren't that far behind so it was nice to finish first in the category, not that common for me in cross country. Washing the mud-caked legs in the Tryweryn was an essential cool down!

Preston 10

Race: Preston 10

Time/Position: 61.45 (41st from 247 [2nd V55])

With the cancellation of the border league, I immediately initiated 'plan b' and headed north for this long-established 10 miler. It has been quite some time (maybe almost a decade) since I last did a proper 10 mile road race, and I wanted to see whether I could put down a decent V55 time. As such, this was an adequate performance that probably reflects my current speed and fitness. In my heart of hearts I knew I wouldn't be able to maintain sub-6 minute mile pace for long, so breaking the hour seemed unlikely. On reflection, 6.10 pace probably isn't too bad in the circumstances. My PB is 58.20, set at Wrexham in 2012, and I obviously wasn't thinking in those terms! I went off a bit fast, still wondering whether a sub-hour was on the cards, and undoubtedly paid for that later. I realised the danger at 5k, however, and knocked it back a bit, going through the first five mile lap in 30.30. It was quite a pleasant circuit from Hutton south-west of Preston, along some lanes via Walmer Bridge to a big track down the side of the Longton bypass, which wasn't quite so pleasant! Conditions were perfect: fairly cold and sunny with a light breeze, and the circuit is quite flat. It was bit frustrating to have to concede I will probably never go under the hour again, but at least this was a club record and should get me fairly comfortably into the North Wales all-time top 10 in the category. It combined with the Lancashire Championships, so it was a strong field of serious runners with lots of quick veterans competing.

Widnes parkrun

'Race': Widnes parkrun

Time/position: 18.22 (6th from 323)

Having run 17.36 at the Wirral 5k, I also wanted to add a decent V55 parkrun time to this year's schedule. Widnes, as the 7th fastest parkrun in the UK, seemed a good choice. Sadly, however, enthusiasm triumphed over experience here and this was just too soon after the marathon for a decent performance: I felt a bit jaded and was half a minute slower than I had hoped to run (20 seconds down on my previous running of the course). Still, it was nice to see have a post-run breakfast with Dave and actually we were lucky to avoid the torrential downpours earlier that morning.