Heather Fell, Olympic modern pentathlete silver medalist, writes about her life 'on and off' the track.
THIS week the spectating was over, it was time for me to compete. Before heading off to Hungary I entered a track race at Millfield School on the Monday night as a warm up.
The problem was that 3k was too far to race so close to the World Cup but the 1500m was restricted to the U20s age group. However on speaking to the race secretary he kindly decided that, as I was adequately 'slow' he entered me in the 'B' stream race, which supposedly had a pace far faster than my personal best. I was a little worried that I was about to be left standing by girls not only half my age but as I stood on the start line I discovered also half my size! Having never run in such a large and competitive 1500m I certainly wasn't prepared for the race tactics used by these young girls, I was elbowed, pushed and severely cut up several times on the first lap, I was obviously too polite. Once the ferocious pace settled and I found my rhythm I could really focus on my race. Unfortunately it wasn't going to be a night for fast times due to a strong wind, yet it had the advantage of drowning out the PA system somewhat, or so I thought until I heard the mention of a medallist and Beijing in the same sentence. Yes, to my horror the commentator had picked up on my name from the entries — I just hope he made it clear that I didn't go to the Olympics for pure 1500m running! Despite all this I ran a decent time and got out of it what I needed. If only modern pentathlon was as straightforward as a running race. My training has been going well and I had a good semi final, qualifying easily for Saturday's final. Putting all five events together on the day is not easy and one that I failed to do last weekend. You only have to look at the blue/black marks on my right thigh to realise that the fence didn't go to plan! On the positive side I had a strong run and swim. I now wait with baited breath to discover if I've been selected for the final World Cup in two weeks time.