From the car park there is about a half mile path to follow to reach the starting position. The course is 4.7 miles long and begins on tarmac but then quickly changes to gravel/dirt tracks, and we do two laps of the course before heading back along the path and onto the road leading to the car park.
We have had a lot of rain this week and the dirt tracks were particularly muddy, you just couldn't avoid it.
There is a long, steep hill, then it levels out somewhat before you begin to descend back to the tarmac again. It is steeper at the top and I found myself having to hold myself back, as I didn't want to slip and fall as I could have taken the skin off my legs and arms.
As for my race? It went well although I could feel tightness beginning in my right calf at about 3 miles, then as I was approaching the road to the finish line, it felt like it could go at any moment but, there was a guy in front of me from Bryn Bach Parc club that I wanted to get past and so I launched myself into a sprint with about 100m to go to the finish line, and I got past him with no problem at all.
In front of him were two girls, one from Bryn Bach Parc and the other from Islwyn, who appeared to be racing each other, so I set my sights on them and quickly went past. I looked behind me and I could see I'd left them well behind and so I eased off the pace up to the finish line.
I have to say that was the most satisfying part of the race for me, when a 57 year old guy beats a couple of 20 something year olds. The speed training I put in on Thursday club nights paid off.
My calf was quite sore and stiff at the end, but at least it didn't give way. I have a sport massage booked next week so that will help it immensely.
A tradition at CRC is that club members bring cake or other sweet goodies for all to enjoy after race meetings like this one, and I had made a Coca Cola cake, a recipe I found from a website called, Joy of Baking, and this recipe originates from Atlanta, Georgia where Coca Cola have their head office.
The recipe intrigued me, as it did those that were to try it. They must have enjoyed it because there were only two small pieces left at the end.
Our next GLCL race is on July 4th at Pontypool, |I hope to see some of you there.
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