National Road Relay Championships

I decided on Friday that I would be able to run after all and I was placed in our A team, to run the second short leg (third leg overall). I was 5 seconds behind the leading women's team when I set off and after just a couple of steps I felt some hamstring tightness, which stayed with me all the way round. Within about half a mile I had overtaken a runner from Falkirk Vics and moved ahead of the first-placed woman shortly afterwards. The field was quite well strung out by this point and although I could see a runner from Kilmarnock just in front of me, the only other competitors I passed were still on the second leg. I maintained a fairly steady pace for the whole 3.15-mile route and wasn't able to pick it up near the end or even manage much of a kick in the final straight. My finishing time was 17:43, which was only 10 seconds slower than last year, so not too bad under the circumstances. I had vaguely hoped to post an improved time but the hamstring problem made it too difficult. As a team we finished 20th, 11 places down on 2008, although last year's performance would only have been good enough for 17th this year.