Monday, February 4, 2008

Bridgend Cross Country Race!

Running has been a BLAST here in England! When the running club I joined in September invited me to run on their cross country team for the season, I was thrilled! So far, I’ve participated in five races, with locations ranging from Wales to Exmouth (south coast). Supposedly, cross country is a “winter” sport here in England, and with that comes MUD!

In one particular race (Bridgend, Wales), the mud was so thick and so sloppy that it was almost a joke! (It didn’t help that I left my running spikes in the U.S.!) I wish I had carried my camera during the race to document the adventure! We were greeted with frosty, gusty winds at the start, then a downpour of rain for most of the race, with pelting hail greeting us at the finish! Whoa, that stuff is painful! We did capture a few photos minutes after the race…great memories!

Here’s Cat, Lucy, and I! How did they manage to stay so clean?!? Ha.Ha.


My shoes were only 1 month old prior to the race…sparkly white, no more!


Here’s 67 year old Audrey racing home to the finish! What an inspiration!


A close-up of the backside damage! Yikes!


The frigid streams made for a great make-shift shower for scores of runners like me! Brrrrr!!


Here’s a picture of the start of the men’s race…check out that mud!

I have to say that joining Great Western Runners has been one of the best experiences of my time here in England! I always look forward to the hard Wednesday night runs and the racing adventures! There are just too many memories to describe! Coach Antczak would be proud to hear that I am signed up to run the 10th leg of the “Welsh Castle Relay” race this June! The two-day race starts on the northern border of Wales and ends at the Cardiff Castle in the south! I’d like to think of it as an affordable way to see all of Wales! Ha.Ha.

1 comment:

Ashly said...

That just takes me back to the old cross country days! I remember one where Melissa Gehringer fell in a stream. That is so fun that you get to run on a team again. I have enjoyed my individual races, but running last summer in a team relay was so rewarding also. What an awesome experience for you!