Over The Contours

Standing in the drizzle in the beautiful Knole Park, I wondered what on earth I'd been thinking. This was my first cross country since 2019, and I was a little nervous about my fitness levels. But needs must; I had been looking forward to the cross country series for some time, and had promised myself I'd get to at least four of the seven events in the KFL series. Knole Park kicked off the cross country season. Because of parking restrictions, there's a long walk from Sevenoaks town centre into the Knole Park estate. I walked in with a few other members of Thanet Road Runners, chatting about the rubbish weather and spotting deer roaming the parkland in its autumn colours. A decent turn out for Thanet Road Runners meant that we were in with a reasonable chance of scoring some points. I was under no illusions that I'd perform particularly well, but it was really good to be back out doing a cross country. The pre-race information included a rough map of the course. The sha

It's been a while. Pandemics, injury, new jobs, PhDs, disillusionment...all of this combined meant that I abandoned this blog (and all associated running goals) through most of 2020 and 2021. I've re-read a lot of these posts of late and decided that not only do I miss goal-based running, I also miss writing about it. Don't be under any illusions - my fitness is not what it was in late 2019, and despite some recent parkruns of 19:10, 18.58, and 18.16, I'm a little heavier and a little older. In addition, I'm still suffering with achilles tendinopathy. I have, finally, started getting some physio (from third year BSc Sports Therapy students at work...) and this has helped, but it has not gone away. Either way, I'm not getting any younger and I was happier when I was competing, so I entered the Sandstone Trail Race in Cheshire. The Sandstone Trail Race has been run since 1977. Competitors can run either the A course (17.1 miles) or the a B course (10.5 miles) alon