BOK Urban, Larkhall, Bath. Dreadful traffic (like last week only worse), sat there for 50+ minutes, finally arrived , wore road racers, which were ideal, but I had no choice really as no trainers. Didn't stretch / warmup enough - big mistake seeing as i'd been sat in car for an hour.
Dreadful start - missed no 1, so did everyone, but not as badly as me. Standing still after less than a minute clueless at the wrong control, & then haring off up a dead end alley, isn't a good way to start.
Very soon after, my left calf starting spasming - stabbing pains. This has happened before and never led to an injury, but the pain is so alarming - like the muscle is about to pull - I couldnt' run clean from then on. Running with care - and stabbing pains on the road, and uphill. Totally ruined any enjoyment I might have got from there on.
Despite this , generally covering the grass & flat / road hills at a reaonsable lick, as evidenced by similar times to Mark on the uphill easy road legs.
Small errors at 9 (tried to go straight - had to go back round), and 11 (tricky leg), then hopeless on the steep downhill road stretches (mincing, terrified), Confused around 14, struggling to run up to 17, took a minute at the road crossing, but even then fate was against me as s stupid yakking dog decided to race me the last 2 controls. I could not get rid of the stupid, bounding, ridiculous little horror, and couldn't look at my map as I'd have ended up tripping over the vile little canine obstruction (tho killing it would have given me some smug satisfaction - but not at the expense of injury), hence went in wrong direction to Finish.
5th, 38:43, Geoff 34:40, Mark 35:40-ish, so another proper drubbing. Jog warmdown - no pain, so hopefully, just a bad night & no more.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/518735222