Mid Lancs XC, 12 Feb 2022

Before I started at university, the only sport I really did was dance - and I did quite a lot of it! I never ran (the once-a-year 2km inter-house "cross-country" course we were forced to do at school always involved as much walking as I could get away with…).

But in my first year of university, I got bored of the fact I wasn't really making any progress with my dance anymore, and had a general feeling that I would like to be a bit fitter. Looking around for something to do, I found my university running club's weekly couch to 5k sessions. If I'm honest, the main reason I started going along was because the sessions were free. But I made some great friends, and six months later I ran my first 5k - at a parkrun, and in just under 35 minutes, which I was over the moon with.

In my second year, I kept turning up to the running club and did the "slow intermediate" runs twice a week. In the fresher's week of my third year, the (amazing) female race captain persuaded me to give cross-country racing a go. The first race of the league was in Ulverston, and it was classic Northern weather; there was a stretch along a ridge next to the seafront where the hail was so painful I literally could not keep my eyes open. But something about the people I was there with, and the absolute insanity of getting up early on a Saturday morning to go splash through some mud in a torrential downpour, made me fall in love with it. Third year was also the year I acquired a bike, and started making the slow transition from sort-of-runner, to definitely-cyclist. But there will always be a special place in my heart for cross-country, and especially the Mid Lancs league.

So, I was over the moon when my friend invited two of us back up to Lancaster to visit, and suggested we fit in a race. It was at Leigh; a very weird course that I mainly remembered for 1) this 200m triangular lap of the gazebos at the start, where there was a lot of elbowing and 2) the fact it was the highest I'd ever placed at a Mid Lancs race when I was a student (76th, which I think just about put me in the top half). Luckily, since I've got a fair bit quicker than I was at uni (mostly as a side-effect of Tim helping improve my cycling!), I managed to escape the elbow-triangle largely unscathed this year.

When I raced at uni, I used to get so nervous I couldn't sleep the night before and it felt like my heart was going to escape my chest as I stood on the start line. This time, as I waited for the gun to go off, I was honestly just excited. I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face for the whole race - I just absolutely loved it. I think the problem was that, when I was at university, I always had this feeling that I was running out of time; there were a finite number of years I would be a student. Since graduating, my attitude towards many things - including sport and racing - has got a lot healthier. If I don't manage something this year, I can just try again next year. And if I don't manage it the next year, does it matter? At the end of the day, while I would obviously like to be the best version of myself, I'm doing this because it's fun - and I'm going to try and always remember that.

And me being happy and enjoying myself seemed to help my racing, anyway! I placed 17th, which was a huge deal for me. I also (according to my watch) ran my second fastest 5k in the middle of a very boggy golf course, which I found hilarious. More importantly, I had an amazing weekend away with some friends I haven't seen for years. I'm really grateful to everyone for having us back. 🙂

Alice Jane Lake