After a fairly easy week I competed in the Yorkshire Veterans Cross Country Championships on Saturday 4 March.  This was also my first competition competing for Northern Masters in there Cross Country Championships.  This event was hosted by Doncaster Athletic Club so right on my door step.  The course was at the Northern Riding College, it was nice to return to the venue (previously I have run in several cross country races on the site).

I felt ok so was looking forward to the race, I took photos of the first race which I uploaded to flickr here.

My race was at 2pm and I finished in 5th place in the Yorkshire Vets and 2nd in the Northern Masters (both V40).  My time was 35:16 for a distance of about 5.75 miles.  The course was very runnable mainly on firm ground, some mud and a small stream crossing followed by a bit of a hill.  3 laps.  I ran hard and will now take all my strength I have gained from 5 months of cross country racing on to the roads.

Recovery food and an Indian takeaway and drinks with my good friend Janet helped me recover for the following days planed run.

On Sunday 5 March I had planned to run to Norton and do the Norton 9 race as a 3 hour long run at what ever pace felt comfortable.  I ran to Norton and by the time the race started I had got to about 15 miles.  I watched the start and Janet pulled out with injury, as Janet was giving me a lift home I changed my plans and ran back to her house, which I reached at 3:04:09 in to my 3 hour long run, the distance covered was 26.2 miles, a nice little confidence boost!

Some nice home made stew and a lift home set me up for the rest of the day which included a nice Coffee chat with Darren and some pizza for tea.  My family arrived back from birthday celebrations in London so a great day all-round.

Tune for drum and bass fans only: