On January 2nd 2012, I flew out (together with Mark Draper) to Tallahassee in Florida to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine state. With the help of Total Sports US, we met up with Pete Rea and the members of Zap Fitness, a group of elite runners who are normally based in North Carolina. They were kind enough to show us around, despite the pending US Olympic marathon trials, and I am incredibly grateful for their help.

The trails in Tally are fantastic, and we have hardly had to repeat a run since we’ve been here, with the option of running on gravel trails, grassy “greenways”, pine forest tracks, clay roads or tarmac cycle paths. We’ve also had the good fortune to be able to use the track at Maclay High School, which is in the middle of a beautiful forest, with miles of trails right outside lane 6.

This training, whilst continuing to build my winter base, is also aimed at achieving the best possible results in a series of US indoor races. I am writing this after having just arrived back in Tally after the first of these – the New Balance Games mile in New York. The whole trip to New York was fantastic, as it also served as the launch for a new documentary initiative from New Balance and Kimbia – The British Miler (click on the link to see the full website and the trailer premiered in New York). Make sure you tune in to see how I’m doing!

As an added bonus, I got my season off to a winning start, running 3.57.22 to take the victory (and for the moment at least, the world lead!). The New Balance Games is always a fantastic event, with a handful of elite races taking place in the middle of a high school meet – so the atmosphere is unbelievable! This win was my third, having also won in 2008 and 2010. The toughest part of the day was waking up to 3 inches of snow, and subsequently having to “warm up” for the race in sub zero temperatures! Thankfully, on my return to Tally it was 26 degrees, so just a pair of shorts for the morning run!

Where to train over the Christmas period is always a tricky one, but luckily for me Steve Vernon, Dave Turnbull and co. came to the rescue to proudly let me use the facilities at Stockport. And they’re right to be proud. The track is in the middle of a great little park, with a 1km loop on a road surface (marked every 200m by plaques), a changing room with ice baths, and a shipping container that hides an Olympic lifting platform! It was great to meet up with them for my warm up, and to see what a great group Dave has training together.

Whilst Christmas involves training as usual, it also involves games, and toys that come out once a year. So imagine my excitement when I discovered a “rapid-fire foam disc shooter” at my parents house. After populating every corner of the living room with said foam discs, and having sent my family running for cover, I turned my attention to the reindeer atop the fireplace. There would be no escape from my sniping… that is until one of the discs whizzed down the ventilation grill of the gas fire. It was a great shot, but one that ultimately led to the fire being dismantled – apparently a foam disc is “a potential fire hazard”. Oops.

From toys, to more grown up pursuits – in the form of burlesque dancing. Thankfully it wasn’t me in a corset and feather boa. Amazingly a group of friends and I had managed to persuade our lovely wives and girlfriends that the ideal way to see in the new year would be by watching already scantily clad ladies disrobe even further. I still don’t know how we managed that one. Still, we had a great night at the Naked Turtle (yes, really) jazz restaurant, where the fantastic (and fully dressed) waitresses sang amazingly throughout the evening. The only bad thing during the whole evening was that one of my friends had misinterpreted the dress code of “bohemian splendour” and somehow came dressed as someone from Miami Vice. I won’t mention any names though, Richard Jones.

So I’m back in the UK after a whirlwind trip to Velenje in Slovenia for the European Cross Country Championships. On the way out, the taxi picked me up at 4.45am, and we arrived at the team hotel at around 5pm. On the way home, we boarded the bus at 3.50am and shortly thereafter my ability to speak, think or tell the time deserted me. Still, it could have been worse, I could have been the person who stayed up all night after having stolen the mascot’s outfit, eaten at least 5 desserts, and thrown up at the hotel.

The thing that struck me the most on the trip was the camaraderie and passion of the coaches and athletes involved in British cross country. Mud, rain and cold don’t scream glamour or money, but they do breed respect amongst those crazy enough to take part. Cross country is tough, but it is incredibly rewarding, and for me it’s a really important opportunity to test my fitness.

Team course inspection

So test it I did, and whilst I was disappointed to finish 25th the time gaps were small, and the fantastic team performance that saw us come away with team silver medals went a long way towards cheering me up! Regardless of how fast the early pace was – it felt fast. I got a terrible start, and spent the race working hard to move through as I negotiated the eight lap course. Rhythm breaking is the nature of cross country, but the tight twisty course really stopped me from finding mine – I felt great on the straighter, faster sections, but was cornering like a ferry!

Post race it was podium time (we were beaten to team gold by a very strong French team), then back to the hotel for massage and a quick change before the banquet. It definitely takes the shine off the evening when you have a 3.30am alarm hanging over you! Finally we undertook the bus, plane, plane, train, bus journey back home where it was time to catch up on some sleep. Or at least that was what I had hoped until there was a knock on the door at 10.15pm as the drugs testers showed up. Which meant that the evening ended with the surreal experience of watching a question of sport at 11pm with my long-suffering wife as two strange men waited for me to pee. Brill.

Footnote: check out a great blog on the GB cross country team here

Definitely a first for me to be standing on a rooftop in London, with a photographer and a chap holding a big shiny board. And it turned out to be a first for them, to be working with someone who didn’t have a clue what he was doing!

Still, thanks to the wonders of (no doubt hours of) photoshop, the results are pretty cool…