I finished third, a long way adrift of Lewys and Marc, and only a few seconds ahead of Matt Clapp and the rest of the field. It was another improvement, but the problems with my fitness are all too obvious. Diana K. won the women's race to make the results very respectable reading.

In truth the Hobbs boys were in a different class today, it was more the effortless way they moved away than the size of the lead that impressed. The good thing for me was that they took me away from the rest of the field early on, and that was enough for me to hold on to third place. It's a two lap course, with a mixture of slower and faster sections, but it was basically the second lap that was harder work for me than it should have been, as the finish got closer I rallied a little. I suppose the positive way to look at it is that this isn't the first year things (or at least the result) have played out this way, but I've been fine after Christmas.

It was an interesting day, the Bank of England Sports Ground is more or less the National Tennis Centre now, and I'm not so sure they are as keen on hosting cross country races these days, but it's a very civilised place. It was good to see Jeremy B. and Keith Donkin running, and Paddy McCourt running so well. And the CSSC representative match is on the same weekend as the Weston 10K, but the team will probably do better in London than out in the home counties (as previous years), even if the way out west contingent aren't as available as usual.

...and now there are 10 days before Swansea and there's still a big hole in my endurance, never mind.