Late call up

I had a call late on Thursday evening checking my availability to run at the National Intercounties championships. Despite a pretty hard week in terms of training and feeling rather heavy legged I jumped at the chance to run for Shropshire and excepted without hesitation.
Not only was this the Intercounties champs,but the event was also a trial for the World Championships. Anybody wanting to run at the worlds would have to attend and do well at this race in Birmingham. In other words anyone who's anyone nationally was there.
The course was quite hilly,more drags than short sharp climbs and was pretty fast due to the lack of precipitation recently. On the start line were 300 of the countries finest,including 8 representatives from Shropshire about to sprint around four laps totalling 12000m (7.22mile). The start was a steady uphill for about 300m and the pace was even faster than I had feared. The trick is to stick with it,and try and get into some kind of rhythm without being sick. I dug in and began to find a little consistency despite my heavy legs from the weeks training(avoidable if only I was asked the week before). It's so important to know your own pace,if you start running above what is sustainable you will pay big time by the end of the race and lose huge chunks of time.
In the end I finished 181st out of 300 starters,which was quite pleasing giving the field. I beat some decent runners,and was second Shropshire runner home.
To put it into perspective,considering how hilly the course was I managed to run 5.39min miles which is pretty steady on the road let alone an xc course. Good day all in all and a great experience running against Olympians and the nations best for the county. Pleased with my result but always room for improvement.