There's no "I" in Team, but there is a "me"!!

If I'm honest, I hadn't been feeling at my best in the run up to this year's World Trail Championships, with a lot of work-related stress overflowing into my day to day life which impacted on my sleep, my mood and my running.

Team GB

The 2017 race was shorter than last year's - covering 49km with an elevation gain and loss of about 3100m.

It is always an honour to be asked to represent Team GB and I was still determined to be a team player to the best of my ability. In the run-up to the event, this meant getting involved in trying to help sort out flights and kit in good time for everyone, finding out information on compulsory kit and our accommodation, and keeping everyone connected and informed (no wonder I get asked if I want to help out on the management side in the future).

The monastery courtyard

Waiting for the bus "home"!

By the time we all got out to the monastery where we were staying (about 10km away from the race start/finish in Bada Prataglia, Italy), I'd put all thoughts of work away from me and concentrated on a good weekend with teammates old and new. It was certainly a beautiful place to be, and while on some gentle runs, several of us commented on how nice it would be to stay there a week and just explore the trails a bit more.



Team GB at the Opening Ceremony

Chilling at the ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on the Friday evening at Poppi castle (15k away from Bada in a different direction) - these events can seem long and tiring, but it's a chance to proudly fly the flag for GB and an excuse to catch up with friends from various other countries around the world in a more relaxed setting than while actually racing!





GB ladies set to rock the trails!

Team briefing

Despite them having checked out compulsory kit the night before, team management insisted on another check (right down to pulling our tracksuit bottoms down to show we had the correct shorts on!!!) before we boarded the 6:30am bus that took us to the start. Although the street was quite narrow and crowded by the start gantry, a cheeky recce the day before meant that we knew that the first mile and a half was a rather steep climb up into the hills, so my team mate Sally and I hung back from the initial crush and spent the first part of the race gradually passing people who'd already built up too much lactic acid in their eagerness to get going.

Leaving the first water station

Beautiful trails

The first 9K took us through beautiful shady woodland to a drinks station just above our monasterial accommodation. We dropped down a slope, popped out onto the road, were given a nice cheer and then were straight back into the woods climbing up again (I might have avoided taking on any water here, but I did manage to trip on a root right in front of a photographer though I hope that evidence remains hidden!!).



Spot the deer...

Sally, myself and another teammate Katie traded places through the next section with Sally and I preferring the climbs, while Katie ran the descents with glee. A long steep, hard, rutted, semi-cobbled downhill section saw Katie disappear off into the distance while Sally and I managed to keep in touch with each other so that we could chat, spot deer and generally enjoy the run, knowing we had 4 good teammates ahead of us.

Our "original" race route had seen us running alongside a reservoir (that looked so tempting in the hot Italian sun), but a revised course saw an extra 300+m hill to climb before the official feed station at 23K. Sally and I used this to reel in a couple of American ladies and a couple of Spanish ladies (we knew that both of these countries would be vying with us for team medals) and even managed a linked "hands aloft" picture for another photographer (again - sorry but we've not found evidence of that picture yet either!) before crossing the dam into the feed station.

Sally's partner Simon had joined the GB support team and could support her, while official management handed me my electrolyte drink and food packet (though unfortunately I did have to ask for my bottle of water and then ask for the lid to be removed so I could gulp it down).



The steps down the side can just be seen

We descended to the bottom of the dam via many, many steps (I definitely prefer losing height this way rather than via a rough technical trail) on which is was impossible to pass anyone, but then we had a kilometre of open road to get running again. This was before one of the main climbs of the day...up and down to the 35K water station. I'm not sure as to the accuracy of the distance descriptions as it seemed a very long way between these points (especially as my soft flask lid had jammed so that I couldn't unscrew it to refill it). 

Some of the trails

I had some good company along this section as I'd caught up to Corinne (a friend running for the US team - she and I had become friends on a long climb in Portugal the year before) but then she had to drop back as her quads started to cramp. I was surprised to hear someone calling my name as I meandered down the dry single track, but spotted Nikolina (from Croatia) sitting down with a marshal as she had decided to withdraw after she had banged her knees pretty badly taking a couple of tumbles. I offered her help, but she said that the marshal was sorting her out with getting down to a road and a lift back.

An impressive run profile

I didn't know what was going on at the front of the field (but had confidence in my teammates) but by the 35K waterstation, I was ahead of the 3rd US lady so I figured we weren't doing too badly. Just after this I came across Matt (our 4th GB man - unfortunately though we were 6 ladies, we only had a team of 4 men) who was having a really bad time of it. Sally had just moved ahead of me so I was confident that my time wouldn't be counted towards our team total (the times of the first three over the line count for the team event) so I took the snap decision to end my "race" and stay with Matt. I might have had a few GB vests but it was his first and I really wanted to do everything in my power to get him across the finish line (even if it meant I dropped my trail rankings and didn't get selected again...sometimes you have to put your teammates ahead of your own results).

 

the "safety rope"...

The next 7K was a tough, exposed, hot, sunny, uphill stretch (with rope for safety at one point) - but we walked, jogged, chatted and climbed up together - with me alternating between encouraging, cajoling, distracting, gossiping, abusing him etc. He kept saying that he wanted to stop at the next feed station when we met our last GB support crew, but I tried to get him to avoid any hasty decisions and take it each section at a time.

Good pre-race nutrition helps

We spent about 15minutes at that aid station. I chatted to a few people I knew  - IAU officials, other nationality support crew (eg the Irish) and runners who'd had to drop out - eg Nikolina had come to their to help support her teammates, and one of my teammates Julie who'd called it a day there (she could sympathise with how Matt was feeling as I think the distance, heat and terrain had taken them both slightly by surprise as it was their first European race of this nature). People kept trying to tell me to "get running" but I replied that I wasn't going on without Matt. He had some food and drink, a cheeky leg rub and although he felt really nauseated he couldn't be sick. I told him that I wasn't recording a slow time without him, so he'd have to get to the finish. Suddenly he was up and running away from the aid station, almost taking me unawares...

Into town

Happily picking up the flag

Matt definitely had the bit between his teeth as we ran the last few kms of "undulating" uphill - especially as we overtook and American couple that had also been struggling over the day and had gone past while we had been at the aid station.

 Unfortunately the last 4-5kms were a continuous descent that got steeper and steeper. It is incredibly unusual for me to be able to descend faster than anyone, let alone a man, never mind a fell runner but poor Matt's quads were shot, so I made sure to keep looking back and waiting on him, ignoring a couple of runners who passed by and tried to urge me on to the finish.



Into the Finish

The final rise to catch people out :-)

We progressed from forest trail, to rocky forest road and then finally to the last few hairpins on tarmac (which we'd started up all those hours ago). Sally and Simon handed us a Union Jack as we descended through the houses to the final corner and we held it aloft between us as we finally crossed that line.

Post-race feasting!

It was not exactly how I'd seen the race panning out when I started, but I was more than happy with my decisons on the day, and so pleased for Matt that he'd ground it out to finish what was a very tough day for him!

Go Team GB!!

SURA Europe

 

SURA Europe

Having several friends (and GB teammates) who are part of the international Salomon running team, I was honoured and delighted to be invited to take part in the first Salomon Ultrarunning Academy. They have been running camps for young up and coming runners for a few years but, in response to an obvious demand, decided to run 3 camps this year aimed at slightly older runners. There was an American camp in April (for runners based in the Americas, Australia and NZ), one in China in May (for Asian runners) and then 16 of us were invited to the final European one, held in Annecy in late May.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but hoped to get more of a glimpse into "the other side" of my friends' lives, meet new likeminded people, pick up some tips from the pros...and just hang out in a beautiful place!

And what a beautiful place it was....

Unfortunately for me, I wasn't in the best shape (with physically or mentally) when I got there, having been under the usual work stressors, combined with not being well and having had minimal sleep (I worked it out as less than 20 hours in 5 days) due to helping out as a medic on a multiday race in Wales, but I'd forgotten how stunning Annecy is.....and was, as ever, awed by the beauty of the lake surrounded by mountains. We were desperate to get out and explore so my room mate Katie and I went for a short jog to loosen up before dinner......and were hit by the heat (about 28 degrees at 5pm).

Arrival dinner

People arrived at various times over the afternoon so we all congregated at dinner and then had an evening of introductions. It was interesting to meet the other camp participants, as we really were a varied bunch (Brits and Dutch outnumbering other nationalities), though I never know exactly what to say when I'm told to describe myself and my running background. We got the week's programme, a few pieces of kit that hadn't arrived beforehand, and met several of Team Salomon who'd be helping out over the next few days.....

The next 3 days passed in rather a blur of activity....


Morning yoga

We started at 7am with half an hour of yoga on the grass, led by Ida Neilsson. Some of the balancing positions were rather "interesting", especially for someone as stiff and inflexible as me, but my top tip for the relaxation part is to make sure you're nowhere near an ant's nest (and to be somewhere you can hide from the cameraman's drone)!

Breakfast with a view

I do love a good French breakfast - and the dining room balcony had an amazing view of the lake, but there was little time to linger and chat as we had to go and get ready for the morning run/workshops.

The Brits on tour

On Wednesday the run was about 15k in total, though it was stop/start to keep the group together and take pictures (and, as we climbed about 1000m in total, there was walking involved). Partway through the run, we stopped in an alpine meadow and plait into 3 groups for the "uphill workshops". Max King, Ida and Greg Vollet each took a group in turn to teach us about uphill running, power hiking and how to use poles (as you can guess, the Brits weren't exactly naturals when it came to pole-use!). We were all looking forward to a quick dip in the lake when we got back down to the valley floor, but unfortunately we had to skip that as we were already late for lunch.

We split into various groups for the afternon - some seeing the physio (Kristin Berglund - currently injured with a stress fracture), and the others at different workshops to meet clothing technicians, shoe designers or to learn about social media. Then came dinner, a marketing talk from Greg, a discussion of the next day's activities and finally to bed, ready to up bright and early for yoga with Ida again.

Katie at the downhill workshop

On Thursday morning we had a "downhill workshop" with Greg partway through the run, but unfortunately I wasn't feeling too good and so did not take part (and also had to have a lie down in place of that afternoon's workshops). I managed to go into Annecy a bit later with Max and Mira Rai so that we could attend the public lecture about Salomon's antidoping policy (luckily this was all translated through headphones so I did not have to concentrate on the French too hard).

There's always time for a group photo

After a "cocktail dinner" (some lovely canapes and wine) we settled in for an evening of Salomon videos/films along with a sold-out crowd. Each film was introduced by the athlete that it featured (so I was kept busy translating the French introductions and descriptions to my fellow Brits). My favourite one was of Dakota Jones' trip to Patagonia, as it's somewhere that I've always wanted to go to...and want to do so even more now! What was even better was when he said that he was interested in seeing the "Savages" of Patagonia rather than the "wilds" but fair play to him for doing his own intro in French!!

Follow-My-Leader on Friday's run

Unfortunately it meant that it was nearly midnight by the time we got back to the hotel, so there were some tired faces at Friday morning yoga! We just had an easy run on top of one of the mountains that morning as the aim of the day was to let people prepare for the 110 or 83k races the next day. Unfortunately I was still feeling rather rubbish so decided that it would be foolish to try to race that kind of distance and so pulled out, missing out on the boat trip across the lake to the elite presentation and bib pickup. My room mate Katie was going to run the 83k so although I wanted to curl up and go to sleep, I tried to give her the space and time to prepare.

I hardly got any sleep that night as I could hear runners (and cameramen etc) getting ready to leave for the 110k race at midnight, and then those taking part in the 83k event started to get up from about 2:30am. Not much after they'd got the bus to their start (leaving at 4am) than I started to hear from people who'd had to pull out of the longer distance, be it due to exhaustion, lack of sleep or injury.

Admiring the views en route

It appeared impossible for me to get out on the course to support so I headed down to the start/finish area with Kirstin and Ida. Kirstin and I went for a quick swim in the lake (refreshingly cold) before attending one of Ida's yoga classes (rather hot in the sun.....which meant that all 3 of us felt we'd earnt another dip by the time we finished). We cheered the winning men in from the 110k (both pro Salomon runners) and then I was asked to get back to the hotel as soon as possible to help out with transport.

I had no means of getting there except under my own steam, so I changed from flipflops to running shoes, left my bag with Kirstin and headed off for a warm 10k back. I admit to stopping a few times in the shade and grabbing a few drinks, but I covered the distance relatively quickly. Too quickly as it turned out, as I wasn't yet needed to drive the minibus around, so I got a bit of chilling, eating and drinking time first.

Celebrating the trails

We gradually picked up people from both races....those who'd had to pull out, and those who'd run well (including Katie who came back with a huge panda and prize for finishing 3rd)....and everyone gradually congregated by the bar for some liquid refreshment. Our special last night dinner was held up in the mountains in a kind of yurt. People were rather tired after such long runs and little sleep, but everyone made the effort to celebrate the end of the week together (with me even piggybacking one of the girls who'd twisted her ankle mid race).

Running with fellow Scot Georgia -
a great pic to remember a great week!

Another late night but it was worth it for the chance to hang out, chat and eventually say goodbye to the lovely people I'd met over the past few days (my airport transfer was early....pre breakfast...the next morning). I was upset to have not been able to take part in all the week's activities but what an amazing few days.....with such a variety of interesting and talented people.....in one of the most beautiful locations.....an experience I'll never forget!

Back in the soggy Scottish hills

I knew that I would need a bit of recovery time after the runs in Poland, but I'd been asked to run for the West of Scotland team in the British Intercounties fell running championships the weekend after. I'd agreed to it on the condition that I wasn't taking someone else's place on the team, whose legs might be fresher and up for racing.

Broughton Heights on a better day

It appeared to have been beautiful sunny weather in Scotland for the whole time I was away in cool, rainy Poland, but as the weekend arrived, the weather took a turn for the worse.

By the start/finish

This year's Intercounties was (relatively) local to me, being held in Broughton (in the Borders).....but the hour-long drive there still took me through fog, wind and torrential rain. The rain had stopped by the time I registered which was good news for the runners, but bad news for me, as it meant that there might be spectators out (and I really didn't want anyone seeing me if I was trailing off the back of the field).

A rough plan of the route

The race started on an undulating track up the valley across a ford, and then we cut away off it down to a stream and started the climb up to the ridge line. As usual, I'd started close to the back, but at least this meant I wasn't disheartened by being passed on the descent to the stream. The climb up felt tough but no one was able to run it, and I gradually worked my way up the field, even passing one of my Westie teammates.
 

Crossing the stream to start the second climb

I had thought that the ridge top run might suit me as, although there were several undulations, nothing was too steep or too long, but for some reason my legs didn't seem to agree with me. I prepared for the worst as I reached the top of the first real descent.....and sure enough about 14 ladies shot past me before I got to the bottom. I tried to relax into it but my quads just felt rather wobbly and as if they wouldn't support my weight.

It was nice to see some familiar faces as I passed by near to the start and finish area and, although I didn't feel especially strong as I climbed back up the far side of the valley, I must've been going better than I thought as I clawed back about 10 places and was soon just behind my team mates. The descent off this ridge was slightly shorter and so only 4 ladies passed me this time, and I was hoping to reel some of them back in over the final couple of kilometres.

Just prior to the downhill finish

This final stretch was still mainly downhill (back to the original ford we'd crossed) but on a runnable track. It did, however, seem more runnable to others rather than me as my legs wouldn't respond to me. Having crossed the ford there was a final climb and so I did pass another couple of ladies again, and managed a final sprint to ensure I kept that position into the finish.

Team West!!

As it turned out I was the 24th lady (with my Westie teammates finishing 7th, 20th and 22nd to put us into 5th place in the team rankings with Yorkshire and Cumbria taking the top spots), though if I'd known I was going to be 98th overall in the race, I'd have let one of the other ladies go ahead at the end, as it meant I failed the "number bingo" having had race number 99!

Time for a definite rest!

A Christmas Present with a difference....

What do you give your parents for Christmas when they tell you that they have everything they need? That's right....a race entry!!!

I've done the Wings for Life World Run for the past 3 years and have always thought that it is a great concept (with the finish line "chasing you") and for a good cause (all the entry fee goes to charity - spinal cord research - rather than to the organisers). I spotted that the Polish one was in Poznan, which is where a couple of my father's cousins live, and so I entered them into that event (and entered myself to run with them if they wanted). I have to say that I didn't just do this out of the blue - I did discuss it with them first, as they've been doing parkruns fairly regularly (in fact until we went to Poland, I was the only member of the extended family that hadn't run a parkrun this year), and unlike myself, keep setting PBs (I can't remember when I last managed one of those!!!).

I've described WFLWR before, but basically it's a global event (thousands of runners in 11 different countries) where everyone starts running at exactly the same time. "Catcher cars" (driver by well known drivers, eg David Coulthard in the UK event) start precisely 30 minutes after the runners in every location. They drive a set speed which increases every 30 minutes. When the car passes a runner their chip is deactivated and that is the end of their run, with an accurate measured distance. In this way, the event is suitable for all ages and abilities, as the faster you run, the further you go, but everyone has at least 30 minutes before the vehicle starts closing them down.

"Happily" registered

My parents had supported me at the Kraków marathon the week before so I was happy to do whatever they wished on the day in Poznán. We registered as soon as registrations opened on the Friday afternoon (unheard of for me to be that organised 2 days prior to the race) and checked out the start area. It was interesting to see it all through different eyes, as although they do park run and my mum did a couple of ladies' 10Ks several years ago, this was the first time they'd had to go to mass registration to pick up numbers, meal vouchers, tshirts and goodie bags. 

I had thought that I wouldn't really be able to run (or feel like running) much after the marathon, but I enjoyed Saturday's parkrun, and so when my parents were more keen for me to run my own pace rather than with them, I decided to take them up on the suggestion. We took the tram out to the race venue for about midday (and I introduced them to pre-race cake) and checked our bags into bag drop. The queues for this were huge and we wondered if everyone would get into the starting pens in time (the Poznán event was sold out with 7000 participants).

Team Zakrzewscy

I heard something over a loudspeaker mentioning my name, and when I asked somebody what it was, they told me to get to the front, as I was one of the "country favourite". I tried not to feel pressurised (as I never start at the front if I can help it.....being a slow starter who is understandably scared or being trampled) as I hoped to manage about 20-30k and I knew that winning distances were usually over 50k. They also mentioned a lady who was meant to be in the field, having won the Brazilian event with about 52k the previous year.....and as they only follow the lead runner from either sex, I hoped it meant I could just enjoy the day and stop before the car got me if I felt like it.

I didn't exactly understand the pre-run commentary build up but it seemed to involved lots of crouching down and standing up in a type of Mexican wave, but all too soon there was a brief countdown and we were underway. I was a decent number of rows back from the front, right over at one side, so luckily there were no trampling issues. After about 50m we headed up a short sharp slope  away from the water, so this slowed everyone down so I could start weaving my way up the field. My parents spotted a dry ski slope as they ran past, but I missed it as I was looking out for my feet, trying to avoid tripping on the speed bumps. 

Pre-race predictions...

Another couple of turns and a few undulations and we were heading into town. The first 10k was a loop around the centre of town, and I recognised some of the places we'd walked past in the past couple of days. After the first kilometre I appeared to be the leading lady, which was rather a surprise to me....and actually became rather frustrating as a cameraman on a motorbike latched onto me. Red Bull were the race sponsor.....and they have something called Red Bull TV. This meant that they might show clips of the leading male/female runners in each country at any time so the cameras had to keep rolling.

This meant that many men wanted to run with me.....I don't flatter myself that it was for my scintillating chat/company or to perve on my legs/backside....but because they wanted to be seen on a TV somewhere. I hate it when this happens as it stops me from running freely, taking the line I want and going the pace I want while being able to look ahead. At about the 10K mark, I passed a man running topless (it certainly didn't feel warm enough for that to me), but he said that he'd gone out hard and was about to drop out so was hoping the oncourse interviewers would speak to him. It seemed rather strange to be interviewing people as they were running, but then again, I'm no journalist.

Stunning countryside (though I doubt I took in much of it!)

Over the next 10K the field thinned out a great deal and I found myself running more or less alone (though with my trusty film motorbike just ahead, and 2 cyclists marking the "leading lady"). Occasionally I would catch someone up and they'd try to stick with the camera for a bit and I'd have to weave around across the road to try to get my own running space back.

I tried to speak to the cyclists a bit, but my Polish is rather limited...I managed to say "I can't speak much Polish - do you speak English or French?" and thankfully one of them replied in English. They couldn't tell me where any other ladies were, but only how far back the catcher car was and the speed that it was travelling. I said that I'd hoped to run somewhere between 20 and 30K and they laughed, saying I'd have to go much further as the car was at least 7k away and I was approaching the 30K mark. The roads were empty but pretty as we meandered around the countryside past fields, windmills, carved statues and undulated through forests. It was lovely to see people out supporting at road junctions, and when I passed a fire station, they set off their sirens in a salute!

Amazing wooden scultures on the "old historical route"

My cyclist told me that I was high up in the worldwide rankings, but I knew that it would only go downhill as I was fading with every step. When the camera is constantly trained on you, it's rather depressing to know that people will probably be able to see your declining form (though it was more worrying to think thyey might see if you popped off the road for a quick comfort break!!). I managed a wave and a smile as I passed the mark of the Polish female winner in 2016 but on the uphill afterwards I developed a stitch. I treid to "run" through it slowing down, holding my side and bending over, and it did eventually settle. Little did I know that this was reported back to the start/finish area (where my parents had gone after being caught) as me "suffering medical problems" but that I "should be able to fix them myself as I was a doctor"!!

The marathon distance came and went in about 2:53 and then it became a struggle to just keep moving until the car caught me. I felt like I was dragging myself along through mud - in fact it was just a cold headwind - and I was begging the driver Adam Malysz to speed up. I started giving the cyclists "grief" (jokingly) as they were trying to encourage me by saying the car was 1.5K away (when I could understand enough of their Polish chat to hear that it was actually 2/5K away)! They told me how amazingly the worldwide leaders were doing but couldn't tell me about other ladies in the Polish run as they "presumed they'd all been caught a long time ago"!

I could hear the overhead helicopter for a long time before the car approached, and I was hardly lifting one foot up in front of the other, but suddenly there was a lot of noise around me. Malysz was about 100m behind me and so I was about to relax and move to the side of the road....but a lady surrounded by 4 men shot past. It turns out that as I'd been slowing and slowing, these guys had helped her close down the gap as they'd been able to see the flags on the bikes and cameraman. Suddenly I was being told to sprint....and I did the best that I could. We were well beyond the 51K sign now, and I really didn't want to be overtaken having led for 50K. I'm not sure I'd win any sprint race, but I cuaght the lady back up and powered past. I shouted to the cyclist to tell me if she was caught and he just told me to keep going. It seemed to go on forever, but finally the car passed me and I could stop......52.26K after crossing the start line!

Slightly "dead" at the side of the road!

I was over the moon as I'd totally unexpectedly run my farthest distance at one of these events (though with the worst pacing ever - don't look at my garmin trace!!!) and won the national event after coming 2nd in the previous 2 years. It must have been one of the closest finishes anywhere, coming down to just a few metres (initally I thought it was a mere 10m, but it turned out to be 110m). Everyone wanted to give me a hug, shake my hand, put a banner on me etc, but all I wanted to do was congratulate the other lady, as she'd run brilliantly, and come so close to sneaking a victory!

Back at the start/finish area

We then had to follow behind the few remaining men - which took a very long time as the Polish winner was something like 3rd in the world, before finally going back to the start area.

Male and Female Poland winners

I was reunited with my parents (who'd been up on stage for interviews in my absence), and discovered that they were the real champions of the family - having both run further than they'd anticipated, finishing as the leading male and female in their age groups in Poland (which was one of the biggest events of them all worldwide)!!!

3 happy finishers!!

So proud of them (and Happy Christmas!!)!!!

Going Krazy in Krakow

 

I had been invited to take part in the Krakow marathon, but I found it hard to get my head around running another marathon when I felt that the Limassol marathon had gone badly for me. It would be difficult enough to recover, train and taper again in the space of 6 weeks, but my mental focus had also deserted me. Add into that a bad cold, a productive cough, and extra work....and all of a sudden I was on my way to Poland without knowing exactly what had hit me!

The "Elite" field...plus myself and Paulina!!

I was sharing a room with Paulina Lipska, the previous year's top Polish female finisher, who was aiming for a time of 2:48 in this year's race, but we felt like frauds in the elite technical meeting, presentation and "photoshoot". She and I were the only non-Africans, and the "pacemaker for the women" was going to go through halfway in sub 2:30 pace (sub 2:10 pace for the men). Then again, we were probably the only 2 who nipped out to the cornershop and bought a couple of beers to enjoy in our room before going to sleep the night before the race.

Room 115 preparing for the marathon

When I woke up on race morning, I still didn't really feel "up for it" (even less so when I saw the weather - it was 3 degrees and drizzling, though didn't start raining properly until warm-up time!!), but as I'd been invited there and my parents/cousins were going to be around to watch the race, I figured I'd just better get on with it, as it would only be me that I would disappoint if I ran slower than I'd like.

Not again!!!

I was a couple of rows back from the very front (the Africans and top Poles were presented at the start), but unfortunately this still didn't save me. Somehow I still managed to get pushed from behind while having my feet taken out from under me. I had visions of Seville happening all over again and wondered if it really was a sign that I should give up racing. The saving grace of this happening so early on, was that there was still a blue carpet covering the cobbles and so I didn't not hurt myself (just my pride!) as I hit the deck, and managed to avoid getting trodden on in the 10 seconds that I was down.

A soggy first 5K

I picked myself up, tried not compose myself/my face, and started running. I hadn't realised that the start was slightly downhill (all I noted prior to the race was the wet cobbles) but I managed to get into the stream of runners and weave my way through them catching up with Paulina at about the 1km mark where we turned sharply right, almost back on ourselves.

There were quite a lot of runners around early on, but by the time I first saw my family on the roadside (I was impressed that they'd braved the weather) I was moving into a space of my own....and spent the rest of the race running solo. I know some people say that they are more motivated when running in groups, but I wonder how I'd actually find such a situation as I seem to spend so much time running alone, both in training and racing. It certainly had a few advantages in Krakow as I could pick my line across the cobblestones, avoid some of the worst puddles, leapfrog a couple of kerbstones, and actually avoided tripping on the tramlines (as we crossed them a fair few times over the course of the race).



The flooded route a day earlier

It was a 2-lap race (though the route was only finalised the evening before as the race organisers had to check that the river flood water had receded enough for it to happen), and with a number of sharp corners and a turn in the road at about the 15K mark. This meant that I was able to see the leaders making their brisk pace look so easy (well, I saw them on the first lap anyway).



Going solo...

I realise that am lucky to be able to avoid running in a crowd during a marathon, so I can generally run my chosen "line" but when the long water stations are on the inside on bends and the volunteers move further and further out into the road away from the curb, you do feel as if you are having to run a long way round to avoid collisions. I also really appreciated the support from runners going the other way as I headed towards the end of the lap, but there were so many of them that they spilled across the central cones in the road, which at times became like a game of dodgems. 

Lap 2 - the rain had stopped

We'd been warned not to "push" into the start of the second lap, and I soon realised why. Not only is there a cheeky (though mericfully short) climb up to the old town (by the Wawel castle) away from the river, but then there was a tight 180 degree bend on a downhill cobbled slope to start the last lap. I was still feeling good at this point, the rain had eased off, and my parents encouraged me as I ran round them on the lap change.

Going into the last 10K or so

Clearly I'd run this first lap slightly too fast (going through halfway in about 1:21:20), as the next lap didn't feel quite so good!!! My feet were wet and soggy and I kept asking myself exactly what I was doing there. Still, others were finding it just as tough as me, as although a couple of people passed me (1 man said that he "wanted to help me" as he coasted past, but his speed was a sprint relative to mine!), I passed about the same number of people finishing the lap in the same position that I started it.

Finally spotting the finish gantry

Everyone had their first name written on their number, and so people could cheer you on by name (and for a change, people could pronounce "Joasia", though obviously I got a few "Asias" along the way). It reminded me of the Barcelona Marathon as I could understand that some of the bystanders were shouting "first white lady", and the best scalp I took on that (very long) lap was passing the third Ethiopian lady with 4 miles to go. This put me into 4th place, but unfortunately the cyclist meant to accompany the 4th lady (for some reason there were cyclists for the top 4 positions) stayed with her, so I had no way of asking anyone if I was moving away and I didn't want to turn round.

Phew....crossing the line

The final climb up from the river was definitely steeper on the second lap and although I hadn't realised that the first mile was downhill, I certainly felt it as I tried to keep running back up it. I'd forgotten how long the run in was, as I kept thinking that every sharp turn, every tram line and every cobble would be the final one, but eventually I made it....4th lady ("1st European is a more-PC way of putting it) and 30th overall.

A well-earned medal!

Better late than never - the sun came
out as I walked back to the hotel that afternoon!

Seeing the results (after I'd staggered a further kilometre over cobbles and down 2 flights of stairs to drug testing) later, I realised that I should be proud of my 2:45, as it wasn't a day for fast times - (2:13, 2:15 and 2:16 for the top 3 men - all Kenyan, and 2:33, 2:41, 2:42 for the ladies - Kenyan, Ethiopian, Ethiopian)!! I also checked the time of the man who knocked me over....he finished 3 minutes after me, so I guess he didn't need to rush quite so much at the start!!