The Blue Course
This was to be my first visit to Butterwood, and I was even looking forward to a 7km course. My fitness level was better than usual as I had been training for the Sport Relief 6 mile event the week before. The 6 mile run was great and I even managed a sprint finish ! However, there was a price to pay - I pulled a muscle in my thigh and spent the rest of the week limping about. By the Sunday of Butterwood I was still not quite right, but it was a lovely sunny day and I couldn't resist going anyway.
As I got to the start I started slowly to see how my leg was - it was still hurting, so I was pleased to hit my first few controls accurately without having to travel excess distances like I usually do ! My course was basically split into 3 parts, crossing over the motorway twice (luckily there was a bridge !). The first 2 thirds were pretty straight forward and I made good accurate progress, but the speed wasn't really there as my leg hurt. The last third of the course was in terrain that reminded me of the Harvester Relays in Sheffield last year - except it was sunny and I could see where I was going. I made a silly parallel path error going into no.15, and the fatigue was starting to set in but I pushed as hard as I could (which wasn't that fast really !) and made it to the finish. That's when my leg really started to hurt and I limped all the way back to my car.
Despite the aches and pains I really enjoyed the event, and 2 weeks later I am walking normally again !
Wendy Bullen
