On Friday afternoon I began the very long coach trip to Birmingham for the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships. The trip down was interesting in itself with the under 17 men deciding that they would have an smartphone/headphone rap battle…I was delighted and surprised when their batteries lasted for the full 6 hour journey (surely they can’t own an iPhone). The bus driver also thought that he would create tropical weather conditions on the bus (we were heading south after all) by putting the heating on full blast. On arrival at the hotel we were fed the hottest curry known to man, all of our mouths were on fire, not the normal pre race meal I would go for but there was certainly enough to feed a small army.
The race day was great if not some what intimidating. We all got rallied into pens, around 40 in total, with 6 ladies racing for each district or country. Looking around at the start most of the girls figures resembled those of models, they were so tall and thin and I must say I felt like a bit of an oompa lumpa stood next to them (this is my next fancy dress outfit!). The race started off at a blistering pace which of course I tried to go with…ha this plan would soon backfire! The course consisted of 1 small lap and 2 big laps totaling 8km. The course was hilly, muddy and technical everything that a cross country race should be. For the duration of the race I had girl A* running on my shoulder breathing like a dragon. I tried to run away from her mainly because her breathing techniques were driving me insane but no such luck she stayed right there with me for 8km! The race finished with a ridiculously steep downhill which was pretty fun to run down. With girls finishing on average every 2 seconds you can imagine the pandemonium the marshals had to deal with as girls flew down the hill and then suddenly stopped on the finishing line incapable of walking (I was potentially one of these girls). I ended up finishing 101st out of 270 which I was pretty proud of considering the caliber of runners and that I am in full marathon training at the mo.
Once the race was finished we dusted off the mud off our legs and clothes as best as possible jumped back on the bus and headed back home! Oh and before you ask we got to recreate the iPhone/Headphone rap battle on the way home.
It was such a great opportunity to race for West Scotland at this race and fingers crossed I can better my position next year!
P.s. I beat A* by 2 seconds 
Carla
* Girl A’s name has been changed to protect her identity. Mostly because we’re scared of dragons.
