down by the river

new venue, right on river. thames is a foot away. travelling party has disappeared into club house. head along tow path to start. email said parts of course on tow path, and other parts on muddy flood plain. cue anxiety about what to wear on feet. no one from our club at start. dump bags by bigger team's. jog off on warm up lap. no snow. slush. slush and water. slush and water and mud. has to be spikes, anything else would cost you a minute a mile. turn around. go back along tow path. lost... like i was on that beach... gone too far? weave through trees, find familiar slush. better get a move on. good number of team members have materialized at the start. need a number. need to tie tag to shoe... something else that's new, tag records your time. fiddle.

the start. our last match in the premiership, as it were. we know we're going down but, belatedly, it's a great turnout - 20-odd (first ten will score). could go out in style. know i'm fit too, can never tell but might actually have a good race. hooter takes me totally by surprise. rapidly pick up pace, want to get good position before narrow path. get near the front. hardly breathing. feels slow. splash splash splash. don't seem to be holding position. junior from our club is moving away. still not breathing while top runners pant past. why does this happen. lose more places crossing ditch as people seem to cut corner. onto muddy pebbly tow path. arms tired. couple of team members pass. spikes clatter over bridge. into deep soft mud of flood plain. isolated. big group stretching out ahead, no one nearby. wtf is going on. so leaden feel like dropping out. turn into wind. leaders have taken wrong line across open field. colourful tow rope straightens amusingly. over snow now and some very dodgy holes. out onto pavement for 30 odd metres. try to run more on heels. clatter clatter. pull up sleeves, don't need long-sleeved top. don't need this race. feel like crying. sick of under-performing like this. back onto tow path for second lap. clatter and curse across bridge. wobble through mud. overtaken. not so bad when it's by athletic-looking runners. slender gracefulness of runner suggests our common problem - too slender and graceful for the course. overtaken by someone who sounds like he's dying. dig in. not so far. wish i knew exactly how far. look at ground and run own race. takes me past him. hate duels. try to increase pace back along slushy path to finishing area. sod it, have closed on someone else. has a lot more left than i do - gets a warning and kicks away. cross magic mat that records time, which is up on electronic timer anyway. mud-splattered and shattered. why. guess the week's snow and today's mud have added to deep-seated tightness. team mate reckons position 40 something. our junior was our first finisher in 12th. team could do well.

team does do well. 5th. sadly suggests we could have stayed up. cross-country works brilliantly as a team event. if golf courses were liberated for use in a nationwide pyramid system of cross-country leagues, it could thrive i'm sure. better than road running in nearly every way. especially when you're wearing spikes.