Last night saw the second of our planned relay races at Golden Acre Park! Nearly ended up swimming there as we drove through the flooded roads en route. Coupled with this the traffic was horrendous and I suspect that may have been the reason some members didn't turn up.
So after being uber organised and downloading and completing the entry form for each team viz; Eccleshill Eagles, Eccleshill Ospreys, Eccleshill Kites, Eccleshill Buzzards and Eccleshill Owls it all turned to pandemonium as it got later and later and we had to make a decision to swap the teams around and take out those who hadn't made it so that we could submit our entries, as it was the organisers delayed the start by 15 minutes and we managed to get our last team entered at 7.10!
Thankfully though it stopped raining not long after we arrived at the park, and although very muggy and damp it looked like we were going to spared a soaking!
The reshuffle of the teams saw the demise of the Eccleshill Kites and so it meant team members Lyndon joined the Eagles and Sophie joined us owls! Gill who was travelling from the city centre was no where to be seen, no doubt stuck firmly in the traffic. Moments later as the first leg runners were being called to the start Gill appeared, nothing could be changed we had entered our teams and there was no going back. Off to the start line I ran, and the start was signalled, anyone who has run around Golden Acre Park before knows it's not the easiest of courses and tonight it seemed was going to be no different, around a field and up a hill, when I got to the top I figured I would turn back, I felt so ill, my legs were tingling, I had nothing in them, was this down to the massage? I suspect so. Note to self: do not book a sports massage on the same day a race, no matter how short the race is! I managed to recover and kept going - in true cross country fashion the twists, turns, hills and hazardous tree roots continued to be put before me. I was trailing two runners, one from Kirkstall and one from Wetherby, a short downhill and I managed to overtake them both. Finally I got back to the field where it all started and welcomed the sight of the finishing line. It may have been short but it was very, very tough!
As each runner finished we nearly all agreed that it was a very tough course, somehow it didn't seem to have the camaraderie we had experienced at Fewston a few nights before, no doubt down to the tough course, the hold ups, confusion and of course the weather. Let's hope we get better weather next year!
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