On the 15th of March I took part in the fourth run in the winter off road series run by Human Race Events, Trailman. This 13 km off road run in Kent was postponed due to flooding, from its original date in February. I ran the race with a friend of mine who's a far better runner and who was in training for a 50 mile ultra trail run 3 weeks later. So we both agreed that this race should be fast but not full out; "let's not get silly here, lets just enjoy it.", were the words that we both completely ignored.
We set off at an excitable pace and it soon became apparent that we had set out very fast. My suspicions were first aroused when my watch signaled the first kilometer in 3:30. This and the fact that we were both still in first and second place. We stuck with it, expecting the crowd to rush past us at any minute, only it didn't. I've never lead a field before but the feeling is amazing. A mix of excitement and a little fear of being caught, much how a fox might feel. With slightly less severe consequences. The course was a lot more natural in the way it flowed than the previous two events. Previously the races were at army facilities designed for training, in one case off road vehicle testing so the hills were short, steep and back to back, allowing little time to rest between. At Trailman the course was a more natural cross-country run, with flowing hills that were more spread out but took longer to scale. The ground was a mix of surface, the grass still damp in places from dew, most of the trail was dried 4x4 track which at the bottom of the dips in the shade was still water logged in places. This added to the challenge and sure enough 3 km in the young snapper behind me made his move and passed us sticking a few metres ahead of us right up until the half way point. As we passed the start finish area for the second part of the 'figure 8' course we were passed by a second runner. At this point I had one thought; "we've done half the race at the front here, we can do this. But I'll have to beat Chris to place third".
About 8 km in was the toughest climb of the race. It was not just the longest but the muddiest climb of the day, making grip extremely tough. At one point the best option was to hike up as running clearly was too wasteful. Chris slowed up, uncharacteristically and let me past. We didn't need to exchange words for me to know something was up. I took the lead, trusting that if he could and wanted to, he'd catch me but he was soon passed by another competator any my running turned defensive. At the top I told myself: "you've 4 km to go, you're in third, you've come this far. You will not loose this place. Shut up legs". Calculating that I might not have a sprint left in me I thought id try another tactic and along the slight plateau strode out a bit to try and drop the guy behind me 5 meters became 10, then 20. Approaching the long decent between kilometres 9 & 10 I chose to test my new found leg strength and see if all that gym work would pay off, and kept the pace down the muddy slope. Success, I looked back at the bottom and couldn't see him any more. With a couple kilometres of rough up and down to go I just kept steady, checking in front and behind to assess my pace. With a watch check at 11.5 km I told myself that's it, just over six minutes to go. Hold on! I could see the finish area that I would be looping round to, just one last drop and slight climb in the field opposite. I could see the guy ahead of me, well out of range to consider a charge. A quick look back to confirm my position was safe, "you've got this." The only part of the whole race I actually enjoyed, while doing it. The last 500 m was an easy downhill to the finish, crossing the line in 59 min 43 seconds in 3rd place. 
