Met League Wormwood Scrubs

Cold day and a lot of rain the week before. However, course was flat and fast - with only serious mud through the wood section at the end of each of the 2 laps. Torry from Serps took a good victory. Look at his and his brothers results from only 2 years ago (Met League and others) to see how far they've come. Again the race set off fast and I found myself lingering in the 100s after first few yards. Got up into the 70s - a bit down on previous results, but still happy. Felt good and fast and was picking people off all the time. First for the club, which is struggling big time this season without some of the younger guys who should be in the top 50. Met League has definitley picked up this year. Looking at times (dubious on XC maybe) and I would've been in top 40 in previous seasons.
Results on Hillingdon website.

London Champs at Parliament Hill

First race at Parly Hill in Hampstead this year. It was suprisingly not muddy and felt relatively short compared to some races I've done there in the past couple of years. Solomon from Heathside - a newcomer on the scene - did really well to win pretty easily. I took it quite easy the first lap (of 4) and then started to move through. I didn't over exert myself and was probably 30secs down on where I could have been. Shambolic results service with much discussion on Eightlane about it.
Overall pretty pleased - still beat most of my usual peers, however I'll need to get closer to some of the top Vets this Saturday. Just done 3 days again this mid-week and pretty busy at work so we'll see how we go.
Only results available are on Power of 10

North London XC Champs & Hyde Park 10K

After an ok week of training - a couple of 7 milers and 500m incline hill work, Alexandra Palace was a new venue for me. Again a bit of pain to get to by public transport. Terrible weather but at least the rain cleared for the race although a blustery wind was a big problem, as was the steep climb to Ally Pally on each of the 3 laps. OK course for me on the whole - not too muddy and long bits of flat or downhill - ran in 15mm spikes.
Hung on for 20th place and just missed the Vets bronze medal by 1 second. If I'd known I could have caught the guy in front. Not as good as last week - struggled on the ascents - but still first for club. Quality of field not as good as Met League but Highgate and Heathside were out in force.
Results here.
On the Sunday the After Adoption charity held a 10K race in Hyde Park. Dad came down for it. Took it relatively steady and got round in 36 mins for 11th - first Vet this time. Dad was 2nd O60.
2 lap course and started at 10am so got very congested with joggers and tourists!
Results here.

Met League Claybury

Long journey out on the Central Line to Woodford, then a fair old walk. Big turnout in sunny pre-winter weather. Spikes needed as course pretty worn by large turnout in previous races. Crazy start downhill, biggest turnout in 40 year history so lots of pushing and lucky to stay on feet. First time on course and suprised how fast it went narrow and how far I was down the field after 400m.
By all accounts it was the highest quality field for a long time so got to be happy with a finish in the 60s mixing it with the leading vets. Good course - pretty flat apart from 1 sharp up and down on each of the 3 laps. Beat usual rivals and peers from club by a decent amount so happy with performance. Still averaging 30 miles per week, and with only 3 runs in midweek, dodgy achilles and bad back I need to see if I can keep it going throughout November.
Ditched the Asics 2140s and sticking with Nike's Airspan and Triax.
Results on Hillingdon AC site.

It's Gone Dark

Training going reasonably well. Still sticking at around 30 miles per week. No really long runs. Just 6-8 milers with usual speed/hill work. Seeing physio for bad back - mainly down to laptop usage he reckons. Also still have my right achilles problem. Doing foot raises on stairs 4X15 each day so we'll see what happens.
Going to need spikes for cross-country race this weekend that's for sure!
Need to get grips a bit more with this site when I have time - links are a bit poor. So many blogs out there related to running.