Cross country running in Wimbledon

The Fat Runner has completed his first 5k race of the year - once again, the very well organised Wimbledon Common Time Trial.

I really do urge all of you who run in London to try one of these events - they are very friendly and low key races, but so well organised! Within a few hours of finishing, you can log onto the WCTT website to get your 5k time, the time of everyone else, your age-graded performance and also photos of you and the other runners. And this is all for free! I have no idea how they manage to do this - of course they rely on some runners deciding to volunteer now and again, but that doesn't account for some of the basics like web-hosting charges etc. Anyway, TFR for one, is extremely grateful!

TFR was rather disappointed with his performance on Saturday though. He was about 1:30 slower than he was last time he did this event. And he can't put it down to the amount of mud on the course either. There is a reasonably clear 3 minute gap between him and the people he really should be running against. The only runners to finish anywhere near him were either young teenagers, or people almost (or in some cases over) twice TFR's age.

So what caused this poor performance? Perhaps it was the fact that he is still getting over a cold which has lasted for 3 weeks. Or it could be that he has only run a few times in the last month (mostly down to him having a cold). One thing is for certain. If he doesn't start training more regularly, then he will always be at the very back of the pack.

He's hoping that his cold is fixed, so (work permitting) he'll try to run a few mornings next week and then have another go at WCTT.

Watch this space to see how he does!