Hardmoors Roseberry Topping marathon 2013

This race was listed as a marathon - it turned out to be about 29m, you certainly get value for money at a Hardmoors marathon, all of them have been over the marathon distance.

The race started and ended at Guisborough in North Yorkshire. Anna was helping out at registration and as there was also a half marathon and 10k, it was busy. There was a slight delay in the start of the marathon, we set off at 8.15. An early start, but the plan was to make maximum use of daylight (cut off was 10 hours). The half marathon and the 10k were being set off a little later.

The day was dry and there was a bit of sun, but there was a strong wind. Soon after the start we were off road and climbing steeply through Guisborough Woods to reach the top of the first hill, High Cliff Nab which has wonderful views over Guisborough. On the way up we were overtaken by Jerry who was doing the half marathon and later Danny went by. We didn't see Mark and Anita Dunseith who were doing the 10k. Aaron was also doing the marathon but he was along way ahead of us and finished with a good time.

From High Cliff Nab it was across the moors to Roseberry Topping. Rather than go up the direct route to the summit, we went round to the far side and up the steep route. It certainly was steep. Flip was marshalling at the top and I am not sure how he survived in that wind. Melanie was being blown all over the place in the short time we were up there.

Then it was down a different way, before making our way back to the Cleveland Way and up little Roseberry, across the moor and down to Gribdale. Up again to Captain Cooks monument, passing two Christmas trees which were decorated with various Christmas decorations. Then off in the direction of Kildale, but then we turned north before we got to Kildale and went down into Gribdale again and then up to the moors again and back towards Guisborough Woods. When we got there we were at 12m and it felt like we had done much more than that. The paths over the moors were muddy in places and it had been mainly uphill since Gribdale.

We then turned away from the woods (and the finish) and then headed back across the moors (downhill but into the strong wind). Finally reached Commondale at 16m and we went into the public toilets. I shut the door on my toilet and as it shut I thought that is a tight fit, the door was a bit big for the frame. When I attempted to get out I unlocked it without any problem but I couldn't get it open. I couldn't get any leverage and I could see I wasn't going to get out quickly. Reluctantly I called Melanie. I say reluctantly because I knew that this was going to cause her much amusement for many years to come.  Now Melanie is slight and she is not really designed to throw her weight against a stuck toilet door. However she did manage to get it open and we were off again, although it was a while before Melanie stopped laughing ...

We headed down a valley passing through the edge of Castleton before climbing back onto the moors again. Then it was a slog back to Guisborough Woods and down to the finish. 6hr 40min, two hours longer than last week's 16 laps round Newcastle Racecourse, but much more enjoyable.

Overall a very enjoyable experience which I am sure is going to be well remembered by Melanie.

Photos

Newcastle Racecourse marathon 2013

We don't train for marathons, we just keep on doing them regularly and that avoids all the tedious (to us) building up of distance. So earlier in the year we looked around at what marathons were available within a reasonable distance in December. Not a lot. However there was one which was new and very local - the Newcastle Racecourse marathon (or half or 50k). It was organised by the North East marathon club which specialises in cheap marathons. The only downside was that it was on the ambulance road alongside the racecourse and the track is only about 1.5 miles, so that meant almost sixteen laps.

It turned out that this was some downside. A real mental challenge. I have done a track marathon so I thought this would be easy in comparison, but at the moment it felt a lot worse. It didn't help that the circuit wasn't as flat as I had hoped and there was quite a wind blowing. Neither Melanie nor I have done much mileage since our last marathon five weeks ago. We also haven't done much on tarmac.

So all in all we weren't well prepared and we paid for it. The first half we did with ease in about 2hr 5min which was fine. But in lap nine we started to walk one uphill stretch into the wind. In lap ten we took two walking breaks and that continued until the final lap when I had calf problems and I walked a bit more to ensure I didn't do any more damage. 4hr 38min overall

It was a grey day and at the start of lap fourteen it started to rain so we donned waterproofs for the last two laps.

The lap counters must have had a miserable day standing out there all day, many thanks to them. There were loads of people I knew doing all three events (all started at the same time from different start points) and it was great to see Fetchies I hadn't seen for quite a while.

Once we had entered this (another plus was that the cost was in the region of £10, a bargain for a marathon and you got a t shirt and a medal) another local marathon popped up. The Hardmoors Roseberry, which is next Sunday. We have entered, we couldn't miss that. It will be totally different, some really tough climbs in the first half and then across the moors towards Commondale. It should be fun if we can move our legs by then ! Our times will be considerably worse than today, but the scenery will be fantastic 

Steppingley Step 26m 2013

Melanie and I had hoped to do the Hardmoors Goathland marathon this Saturday, but my nephew has chosen to get married that day. Some people just don't look at race listings when arranging these things ...

So we decided to look at doing something a week earlier. We toyed with doing Rivington and we had done the previous two races in that series, Girizedale and Howgills, but for some reason that I can't recall, we chose the Steppingley Step, a 26m LDWA event starting from Barton-le-Clay in Bedfordshire. A four hour drive from Durham. We decided to treat ourselves and stay the night before and after. After finding a nice new Premier Inn near Bedford, I managed to book us in a different one, south of Dunstable. What is a few more miles when you have driven that far, I told myself !

Later when looking at the race details, I realised that I had run from Barton-le-Clay two years ago when I did the Shillington Shuffle. I couldn't remember the route for that one very well, which is unusual for me as I can often run through race routes in my mind sometimes years after I have done them. There could well be a medical definition for this condition ...

I later realised that the Shillington Shuffle, the Sundon Saunter and the Steppingley Step (the LDWA has particular fun with names for its events) take turns to be held and that people who had done all three in a row got a special badge and certificate. This would have been something different, but sadly I didn't grasp this last year.

So we turn up at registration at 8.30 prepared to set off at 9.00 as instructed (walkers had left at 8.00). After asking my name, the next question was 'What time would you like to start ?'. I guess this might have happened two years ago, but I had forgotten and I stumbled, unsure of what to say, I wasn't used to having that sort of freedom of choice. Also Melanie was in a different queue as there were different desks depending on surname, so I couldn't have a chat. 'Its okay you can change your mind, just let me know' the registration official said seeing my uncertainty. I went for 8.45 and went and chatted to Melanie who opted for that time as well.

We got ourselves together and went outside at the appropriate time to find a large group of runners from MK Lakeside Runners who were all going off at the same time and off we went as a group. Melanie and I were well prepared for this unmarked route, we had the route on our Garmins, a set of very detailed race instructions and a map showing the route (all downloaded from the event website). As I need glasses for reading and for nothing much else, we adopted the approach we had successfully used at a previous event, Melanie reads out the next set of instructions and I look out for whatever we need to look out for, a road junction, a footpath, a yellow topped way marker or in more than one case, a rubbish bin. Melanie reckons she is poor at navigation, but I have no doubt she could find her way round without difficulty now, she is now fluent in LDWA abbreviations - WM, FB, FP, KG, BL etc. The other advantage of her reading the instructions is that she doesn't run as quickly, something I appreciate :-)

The course was initially pretty flat, but in about a mile we encountered the biggest hill of the day at Sharpenhoe. Lots of steps up, it felt like a Hardmoors event. Good views from the top, it was a sunny day though pretty windy. Then downhill towards the first of many lovely villages, Harlington. Many of these villages had attractive churches, some with the bells ringing, and cottages with thatched roofs. Then on to Westoning, which was equally as attractive. The next village, Steppingley, was the second and third checkpoint as the course was basically a figure 8 with Steppingley in the middle. The food here was good - lots of different wraps, jelly, tinned fruit, juice, tea. It was good to know what would be waiting for us in 8 or so miles. Steppingley is on a small hill, so we were running downhill after the checkpoint which felt good although we were aware there would be a climb to get back there. The route was very varied, sometime round the edges of fields, sometimes straight through fields, small sections of tarmac, different types of woodland with the sunlight filtering through. Nothing lasted too long and we changed direction frequently, so there was lots to see and enjoy. It was an excellent route (apparently there have been lots of changes from the route three years ago).

We made it back to Steppingley, consumed more wraps and headed off well refreshed for the last ten miles. On to Flitwick and Flitton and on to Pulloxhill with its water tower that can be seen from far away. Here was the last checkpoint. We had thought that we would not get such a spread as we had had at Steppingley, there was only just over 3 miles to go to the finish. We were expecting a few nibbles and drinks. But no, there was a feast laid out before us. Scones covered in lemon curd, jam tarts, crisps, twiglets, pancakes, chocolates .... We probably stayed longer than we should have done.

I lost a bit of motivation in the last three miles, I think I hadn't fully recovered from York two weeks ago. Melanie did Jedbugh a week ago so she hadn't found this one the easiest one for her either. She has now completed twenty marathons in sixteen months, an amazing achievement especially considering what she went through in 2011 and 2012.

We made it back in 5hr 22min which we were happy with. The finishing meal was basic, but the event was amazingly cheap to enter and one of the advantages of doing a race in the south was that it was good to meet up with some old friends from the marathon circuit that we hadn't seen for a while.

A long way to travel, but a lovely way to spend the weekend. Photos

Yorkshire marathon 2013

I wasn't really looking forward to this one. Flat and fast is not something I train for, I prefer to have some hills that I can walk up and take a break. Melanie had decided this wasn't for her so she did all the driving and spent the day in coffee houses and shops in York.

The drive down was fine and I was dropped off as planned at the John Lloyd gym about 75min before the start and walked from there. As I approached the baggage area I realised there was a very long queue. Eventually got there and dropped my bag only to join another queue over a bridge on the York Uni campus which was hosting the event. The Uni had opened several of their buildings too so there were plenty of toilet facilities. Finally, I got to pen 4 about 7 minutes before the start.

It took me about 6 minutes to cross the line and then we turned towards the centre of the city and then going through one of the gates in the walls. Onward towards the shopping area and it got a bit narrower and headed towards the minster. Passed Melanie who seemed to be standing above the crowds on something precarious and then out through another gate in the walls and into the suburbs. Still lots of people about, some with megaphones, people had also put bunting outside their home and were offering jelly babies to the runners. We had our first names on our race numbers so the spectators were encouraging us by name. I heard some spectators making plans for next year, suggestion they would bring out gazebos 

When running through Stockton on the Forest I was surprised to see a vicar in full regalia high fiving runners and saying 'God Bless you' to everyone she connected with.

My plan for this one was to do 10min miles and just see how it went. I had to start a little ahead of the pacer in the pen because of the crowds, but I seemed to be knocking off sub 10 min miles without too much effort. I wondered how long it would last and I could feel my calves tightening ominously ...

By about halfway I realised I was enjoying this more than I expected. Soon after halfway there were two out and back legs which gave me the opportunity to see people I knew and there were loads, Fetchies, clubmates and friends from other clubs. Looking for other runners distracted me from the gentle inclines that had started to appear.

I got to 20m in 3hr 16min which was pleasing. Things started to go wrong at about mile 22, the first real walking started and I started to put in 10min, 11min miles... But I knew I had enough time to get under 4hr 30min so I just walked when I felt I needed to, but always started up again as quickly as I could.

Lots of crowds at the finish, a reasonable goody bag, with a pink and white t shirt and a pink and white medal 

I think I might enter again next year and MelanieLH is tempted as well 

Some photos from Melanie 

Kielder marathon 2013

We got up early to get to Kielder for MelanieLH's first race round Kielder. It was to be my eighth. The forecast was light rain from 12 and cloudy before that.

Arrived in plenty of time and parked in the official car park (a field) at Falstone and got on the bus to take us to the start. No delays and we were dropped off at the top of the hill and made our way down to the starting area. Sadly as we approached the start one of the barriers blew over onto MelanieLH's ankle. It went red, but she had it checked out and it didn't seem to cause her any problems when running. Relaxed and ate some of the wonderful food being sold by a group from Falstone. All home cooked and lovely.

The announcer warned that the start might be late (which seems to have happened most years), but we went off just about on time. It had started drizzling and it kept on doing that all race. It was cooling at first, but it did get a bit more windy and chilly towards the end.

Melanie and I decided to run this one separately as I wanted to walk most if not all the hills and then speed up towards the end. This strategy has worked well the last couple of times. So I started fairly near the back. However, once I got started, I found I was bouncing along quite rapidly. I was surprised, it had been a tiring week and I hadn't slept too well the previous night. To my surprise I started to catch MelanieLH and two clubmates and caught them after about 4m. This was probably a mistake ...

One of the other two clubmates rapidly slowed after 6m and limped round the rest, so then the three of us ran on. I was walking more than the other two, but then catching them on the descents. However after a while I found myself unable to catch them. But I was still going reasonably well and did the first half in 2h13min

I was hoping that I would still be able to either speed up or at least continue that pace after 17m, but inevitably going too fast early on had taken its toll and I slowed. Still I got round in my third fastest time out of eight, so I was very happy with that 

I do love running at Kielder and there was a lovely atmosphere. Apart from a falling barrier, the organisation was very good and it was an excellent goody bag 

I will be back again next year  

Ultimate Trails 50k 2013

Well that was tough ! One of the toughest races I have ever done. Melanie and I had wondered whether this might be hard and it certainly was.

The event was a bit like the Lakeland 50m/100m where the 50k starts halfway round the 100k route and we had a coach to take us to the start of the 50k in Patterdale. The start and finish of the 100k was at Brockhole, between Ambleside and Windermere. We were not impressed by Brockhole, it is advertised as a venue which has lots of free activities, but if you are travelling by car, the car parking charges are steep. The charges operate 24 hours a day. Those people who were camping there were building up some hefty charges.

We were told to arrive on Friday evening for registration and a compulsory briefing for all runners. We met up with Jane who was going to be doing her first Ultra and the plan was for the three of us to run it together. The briefing included nothing that wasn't in the race day instructions and that we weren't told on the coach to Patterdale. We should have arrived on the morning of the race and registered then as Anna did. We were also told that the coaches left at 9, but it seemed the organisers were working for a 9.30 departure. We arrived in Patterdale at about 10.15 for a 12.00 race start. There was a marquee most of which was a feed station for the 100k runners. There was a small part we could have gathered in if had been wet. Luckily, it was a lovely day, sunny, a gentle breeze and you could see for miles. The four of us opted to walk to Glenridding to find a coffee shop.

The race started exactly on time and we ran up Grisedale. This first section is the final quarter of the Lakeland Trails Helvellyn route, but in reverse. That was fine and then we started the climb up to Grisedale Tarn. I noticed that I was a bit tired and started to wonder whether the Hardmoors Princess 30 event two weeks ago and walking 10m last Tuesday had been wise. Still we got to the Tarn and had fantastic views. The descent to Dunmail Raise was something else, very technical and we were making slow progress, but well within the cutoffs.

After grabbing some water and food we ran round part of Thirlmere and started the second big ascent, up to Harrop Tarn and Watendlath Fell. This ascent felt a bit better, but still hard. Crossing Watendlath Fell, we were using the flags (this was a marked course) as there was no for discernible path. It got a bit boggy in places. At this point Melanie started to get a migraine, but she caught it early with some painkillers. A steep descent to Watendlath and the second checkpoint. Here I had soup and the other two had porridge, very nice. Then another short climb and, for once, a reasonable descent to Rosthwaite and we headed towards Stonethwaite. This bit was runnable, but it got a bit rougher underfoot as we turned into Langstrath. Then we could see Stake Pass in the distance. This was to be the final big climb and the aim was to get up and over before dark. Anna had been running with us for a bit of the way, but at this point she was pulling away and we didn't see her again until the finish.

The climb did not look bad in the distance, but it was much harder than it looked. A seemingly never ending series of hairpins. Very smooth underfoot and we were hoping the descent would be similar. No such luck, it was rocky and we walked most of it. Finally down into Langdale and we knew the worst was behind us. We ran slowly to the next checkpoint at Stickle Barn where we had chips ! Bliss !

Then via Elterwater and up to Loughrigg Tarn and up to Loughrigg Fell. By now we were using head torches, but the weather was still excellent with little wind and a clear sky. To the final checkpoint at Ambleside and then off to Skelghyll Woods. Up till this point the signs had been pretty good, but into the woods we came to a junction with no signs. I looked at my Garmin with the GPS route on it and it appeared to say go right. I was a bit doubtful as it seemed to be going down. I haven't quite figured out what went wrong, I have a feeling that the GPS route provided wasn't too accurate. At this point we were over 31m and we finally decided to cut our losses and run down to the Ambleside to Windermere road and run in from there. Many others in front and behind us did the same.

Made it back in 9hrs 30min. Anna had also struggled to find the route in Skelghyll Woods and finished about 5min ahead of us. It was a lovely well lit finish on the lawn next to the lake

Jane did great on her first Ultra ! Photos

Hardmoors Princess Challenge 30m 2013

The Hardmoors 30m is well established. It starts at Ravenscar, goes 4m down the lovely Cleveland Way to Hayburn Wake. There it descends to sea level and climbs back up again. At that point the race route leave the Cleveland Way and heads towards an old railway line, known as the Cinder Track. The route then heads back to Ravenscar through Robon Hood's Bay to Whitby. All on the cinder track apart from a small diversion to reach the checkpoint at Ravenscar. After going through the main tourist area of Whitby and climbing up to the abbey, the route rejoins the Cleveland Way and goes through Robin Hood's Bay back to Ravenscar.

I have done the event, which is on 1 January, twice. Each time it has been a bit of a nightmare after Whitby. There are many hills and steps, but these are to be expected on Hardmoors events. The real difficulty has been the mud. This year I wore the grippiest shoes I have, mudclaws, and it made little difference. 20m to Whitby took us 4 hours and the last ten miles took us 3 hours 15mins.

Princess Purple Bubbles has wanted to do the event but has been unable to be free on 1 January, so she decided to run the route in the summer. She then decided to run with a few friends. She then decided to to make it a race and raise money for the Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue. And the Hardmoors Princess Challenge was born

The prospect of doing the event with no mud was very enticing  Sadly Melanie had a training course to go to which involved puppets and sand trays, don't ask !

It was very cold at the start and I wore my waterproof top and even contemplated putting tights over my shorts. However, it soon warmed up and I left my tights behind when I reached the start/finish checkpoint at 8m after the south loop

Then it was the largely downhill section to Robin Hood's Bay. I tried to run this fairly hard as I knew there was a long climb after Robin Hood's Bay. I walked the long climb and then ran hard on the downhill to Whitby, Navigating round the tourists at Whitby was fun as usual, then the climb up to the Abbey. Running from there to Robin Hood's Bay was so much easier without any mud. 

The hills are still there and they keep on coming, especially after Robin Hood's Bay. There was also a new section of the Cleveland Way to go through before Ravenscar  Made it back to the Village Hall in 6hr 44mn 50sec, which is a 20min course pb 

I have found it very tough when running the route on January 1st, but today it was just lovely. A lovely cooling breeze helped as the day got warmer 

The event went very smoothly and raised at least £1K for the local Mountain Rescue, Well done to Princess Purple Bubbles, Flip and the other volunteers 

Pathfinder marathon 2013

We spent some time away seeing an old friend in Norwich, going on the Broads, visiting Cambridge, eating out. All very enjoyable 

On Saturday we did the Mulbarton parkrun and had a good chat with mxhornet. It was a bit wet and the course was all on grass, but everyone was very friendly and we met the Race Director from Sedgefield (about 5 miles from Durham) who just happened to be down that way as well.

On Monday we did the Pathfinder marathon event. It is 26m round the Cambridgeshire countryside. It was mainly flat though there was the odd undulation. It got very hot after about an hour and half and I struggled in the last four miles. Melanie wanted to get it finished so I persuaded her to go on. Both of us did our best times for quite a while for a trail marathon 

Again we found people that we knew at the event - Foxy, Nightjar and familiar faces from the 100 marathon club. There were probably only about forty runners and about ten of them I had met before. Four pounds to enter or seven pounds to get a mug, it was a bargain 

On the way back north we stopped off at Rutland Water which neither of us had visited before. We walked round some of it, we must go back there 

Photo

Hardmoors Saltburn marathon 2013

The Hardmoors Saltburn marathon route was a bit of a mystery. There had been a map published on the website, but we already knew that there would be changes to the route through Guisborough Woods. The route was to be fully marked, but it was going through some dodgy areas and I was doubtful the tape would remain there, so I printed off the map from the website, drew the route and downloaded it to our garmins, just in case. The route on the garmin helped a lot when we found some of the tape confusing or missing or apparently put somewhere to send us the wrong way, though we didn't see that.

Melanie and I met up with a few familiar faces in Saltburn Lesiure Centre. Phil Owen was there as he was going to be handling two busy road crossings. We started through some streets and made our way down to the Cleveland Way and up to Skelton, Skelton Green and started the long drag up in the direction of Slapewath. Steep descent there, cross the first busy road and up through the motorcycle woods (they probably have another name !). Then after getting to the top we were directed off the Cleveland Way through Guisborough Woods, a lovely downhill, but we knew that this would be followed by a climb. It certainly was, a steep climb up an overgrown path which came out about 150 metres from where we had left the Cleveland Way. More climbing (but gentler) and then leaving the Cleveland Way again for a descent down and up onto the moors above Commondale. The moors took a bit longer to cross than I anticipated, but we got to Commondale and then had a steep climb out of there, then it got more gentle.

We had had a brief shower earlier, but we hadn't got the waterproofs out, but we could see some very black clouds approaching, so it was out with the waterproofs. A good choice because for the remainder of the path across the moors it threw it down, just torrential rain. Got to the second busy road crossing and Flip guided us safely across and the countryside became more rural. We came across one piece of ambiguous tape and as we got there about eight runners emerged having made the wrong choice of route. We probably would have made the wrong choice too, but all of us now chose the right route.

I had expected this part of the route, 14m onwards, to be fairly flat, fairly undulating would be a better description. The weather was getting warmer too, so we slowed a bit. We reached Skinningrove safely and so I knew we were approaching the coastal part of the Cleveland Way again. However, I knew we had to go up to the cliffs, so we started the ascent and reached a junction where we could go up a road, down a road (but towards the coast which was the right direction) or straight on up an overgrown path. Several runners were there scratching their heads. No tape in sight. We decided to go up the road as that was closest to the route on my watch and everybody else followed. It turned out to be the right way as tape eventually started again.

Nice run along the Cleveland Way with a breeze to cool us down :-) though I was starting to struggle a little here. Got to the last checkpoint outside the Ship Inn in Saltburn and the marshall said to follow the Cleveland Way route past the Spa Hotel and it had been retaped. But before we got there we found more tape sending us down by the river. We took that path and then a taped path upwards. The tape then disappeared, but I know this area a bit so we kept on heading up to the road and found our way back on to the Cleveland Way. More tape took us slightly down again (this route was turning out much hillier than I expected), before the final climb back up to the road leading to the Leisure Centre. 5hr 43min which is probably our fastest Hardmoors marathon, they certainly are hilly !

Then to my surprise I learnt that I had won my age category and was presented with a very nice trophy. A lovely end to a lovely day :-)

Photos

Rock and Rowel 26m 2013

What a great new event this was ! The food at the checkpoints and at the finish was the best I have seen and I have done a few of these type of events. It is standard to get sandwiches and/or cake but at this event they also had vegetarian wraps and at the halfway checkpoint we had an ice cream with strawberry topping :-) The ice cream was also available to finish off the lovely meal at the end. All of this for £10 ! The ice cream was very welcome on a hot day with the sun out for the first 20m. One of the refreshment stations also had cut up watermelon which was just great :-) The organisers also provided an extra refreshment station because of the heat.

One thing that could be improved was the route description. It was a bit concise and relied at lot on grid references. Luckily, the organisers also provided a gpx file which we downloaded to our Garmins. This meant that we had few problems, but we kept coming across people who had gone off course and others who kept having to stop to consult maps. Small parts of the route were flagged, but the majority of it had no markings. I think we would have made some major mistakes without the gpx file. But the possibility of making a mistake is part of the fun with these events and it certainly keep you concentrating on where you are going rather than fretting about your pace.

If you have done any of the Ripon 10m, the Jolly Holly Jog, the Fountains 10k or the Round Ripon Ultra, parts of the route will be familiar. I underestimated how hilly it was and assured Melanie that it wouldn't be too bad. The heat made the many short climbs a bit tougher and there seemed to be more climbs in the second half.

The course follows the Ripon Rowel footpath for some of the route and it also goes throughBrimham Rocks, an interesting collection of rocks stacked on top of each other. There were hordes of people swarming all over the rocks (and an ambulance was there presumably helping someone who had fallen off one). It was a bit tricky finding the checkpoint there as there were so many people about.

At one point we had a bit of an encounter with some bullocks who came trotting over to look at us. I had to try some bullock scaring techniques which seemed to work (wait for them to stop, wave arms, make a noise and advance a little). There were a few other fields with cows and bullocks in but they just ignored us or got out of the way.

We kept up a reasonable pace in the first half, but the heat and sun was sapping at our energy levels and we struggled a bit in the second half. After the meal at the finish, we went round the corner to the pub and finished off with some lovely cooling refreshment.

A great event, we shall be back

Photos

Lakeland Trails marathon 2013

Two years ago I ran the Lakeland Trails marathon and it was a hot day. I missed last year's event, so it was back again to Coniston with the prospect of another hot run. Melanie did the half marathon last year and was keen to do the marathon this year - it would be her fourteenth marathon in just over a year, amazing !

In the Lakeland Trails there are usually two events, the Challenge and the Race. They follow the same course, but the Challenge goes off a bit sooner. It allows people to finish earlier in the day if they want to and also helps the organisers because the slower runners tend to enter the Challenge (but by no means are all the runners in the Challenge slow !).

I have been entering the Challenge for a while, it is good to see the faster runners finish. The difficulty with the Challenge at this event is that you must register the day before and the Challenge starts at 7am. It was this last point that Melanie was not too happy with. We had the alarm on for 4.30 even though we were staying not too far away in Kendal.

Saturday was hot all day and the forecast for Sunday was getting hotter every time we looked at it. So Melanie gradually came round to being relieved that we were starting early when the forecast was for it to be cooler (but still pretty hot).

Luckily the forecast wasn't quite accurate, as it was cloudy until about 11.30 on Sunday, though it was very humid. Still that was better than being cooked by the sun. So after getting to Tarn Hows and up most of the hills and down to the south end of the Lake, the sun finally came out and it became very hot. We then climbed up to Beacon Tarn and the climb was longer than I remembered. But we made it back to the finish and about twenty five minutes faster than my time two years ago.

I have to say that the race organiser, Graham, excelled himself at the end. The finish at any Lakeland Trail event tends to go round a field or park before you go under the finish gantry. This time we were approaching the field containing the finish via the next door field which was a campsite. I was hoping that there would be a gate we would run through that would lead us directly into the finish. There wasn't, so we ran past the the finish gantry (and slightly uphill !) and then finally turned into the finish field. Do we go directly to the finish gantry ? No, we run right round the finish field (and it's a big field !) until we get to the lakeside and then head towards the finish gantry. Do we turn in when we reach it ? No, of course not, we continue round the edge of the lake before finally turning into the finish. An amusing finish to a lovely scenic event, the terrain is tough to run on at times, but I would strongly recommend this race.

To cool down at the end, lots of runners including us, ended up in the Lake, that felt good.

Anita and Kathryn ran the half marathon and they started at 10, so they had a hot race !

Photos

Durham Dales Challenge 30m 2013

I did this race two years ago and found it hard. Five big hills and few smaller ones. It took me 8hrs 14min. However, the scenery was good, the food at the checkpoints was amazing and the meal at the end wasn't bad either. I do love the LDWA  Part of the reason I took that long was that I was running with a clubmate who was struggling and she retired after 10m. This time I was running with Melanie and she is the faster runner, so I knew I wouldn't be dawdling.

We both slept badly last night, the weather forecast was poor, varying between light and heavy rain with a little bit of sun. The wind was going to be strong and in our faces in the first half but behind us on the way back. We had also done the Hardmoors Rosedale marathon six days ago, so all in all the omens weren't good ...

Last year we did the 16m version and though the weather was poor in the first half, we enjoyed it. We decided early in the year that we would do the 30m route this year. I also told my clubmates how good it was and it was good to see quite a few there, most of them opting for the 16m route. It was good to have a chat with them and other faces we recognised.

Both of us were uncertain what to wear, but we both had to put waterproofs over long sleeved tops and Melanie wore gloves later.

We started slowly and climbed out of Wolsingham onto the moors and started towards Hamsterley Forest. No midges there this time (they were horrendous last time). All of this section was into a strong wind with some heavy rain squalls. We finally got off the moors and down to the lovely River Tees and headed towards Middleton-in-Teesdale. A change in the route led us to a new checkpoint which had an amazing display of food.

Then we started to climb the fourth big hill. To my surprise the route seemed not to be as hard as I remembered and we were making good progress especially on the tops when the terrain was runnable. The wind behind us was certainly helping.

At the last manned checkpoint they had quiche like last time  Then it was down into the valley and following the River Wear past caravan sites and farms and passing glorious meadows which looked amazing.

We came to the end and we were surprised to see our time 7hr 11min, a big improvement on two years ago Good meal at the end too  These events are amazing value for money

Hardmoors Rosedale marathon 2013

We were up at 5.30 to get ready for this run. Made it to the village hall in the lovely Hutton-le-Hole for 8 and got ourselves ready for the start at 9. The usual relaxed atmosphere of a Hardmoors event and quite a few people that we knew where there.

The route started by undulating through fields and quiet country roads. The route gradually started to rise and soon we were onto the moors and it seemed to just keep going upwards, with just the odd short descent. We took the decision to walk most of these uphill sections as we knew there was more easily runnable sections to come.

Finally after 10m we got to Blowarth Crossing and turned in a more southerly direction along a very flat old railway line. We had a good run along this for quite a while (it is unusual to have such a long runnable section in a Hardmoors event, which are usually characterised by plenty of hills and steps !). After a while we left the dale we were overlooking, Farndale, and climbed up to the Lion Inn and then started to contour round the edge of Rosedale. Gradually we descended into Rosedale, crossed the dale and then soon after the 20m point, we climbed a beast of a hill back up to another flat old railway line. My leg started cramping on the way up the climb and I know at least two other runners who had similar issues. Melanie gave my calf a quick massage at the top and that certainly helped, but I lost quite a bit of energy on the climb so after that I was taking more walking breaks than I was happy with. However, we got back in under 6 hours which was pleasing. A good route and much more runnable than either of the previous two Hardmoors marathons.

Phil was doing the timekeeping at this event (and for the 10K and the half marathon) and Anna had a great run, coming in under 5hrs !

UltraTrails Howgills marathon 2013

This event was tougher than we expected. We probably should have worked that out after the Grisedale marathon which was organised by the same people (the ones who organise the Lakeland 50/100).

When I looked at the route beforehand I divided it into four quarters. The first quarter we knew was going to be very tough. From Sedbergh we were heading north onto the Howgills. After about 6m of climbing we would reach the Calf and the next quarter looked fine, a descent down into the Bowderdale valley and along there for a while then turn to the east towards Ravenstonedale which was the only checkpoint. Then a bit of a slog south back up the into the hills. The final quarter looked a lovely descent back to Sedbergh.

In reality the first quarter was possibly a bit tougher than I expected. The climbs were steeper and seemed to just keep on going. It was a warm day with a breeze from roughly south. The second quarter was a bit of a surprise, the descent into Bowderdale was a little tricky and the path in the valley itself was narrow and technical. You couldn't take your eyes off the path and it went on for a long time. The terrain in Bowderdale was a bit wet and muddy in places, but it would have been much harder if it had rained more recently. Finally we turned east towards Ravenstonedale, but then turned south and up again for a while before we came to a familiar section which we walked last year. Into the Ravenstonedale checkpoint to fill our bottles which were about empty.

We left Ravenstonedale and slogged our upwards on a deserted narrow road. We could see by now that our original estimates of how long it would us take were slipping away (MelanieLH guessed 5hr30 and I guessed 6hr).

Finally we reached the highest point of the second half and worked out way down into a valley and followed the River Rawthey back to Sedbergh. There were lots more stream crossing here and it certainly wasn't all downhill, there were a few climbs as well. I was dunking my hat into the streams to keep myself cool by now.

The scenery was fantastic and I really enjoyed that last few miles. If you like the Lakeland Trails marathon, then you will certainly like this one.

They gave us a lovely cup of soup at the end of the race, the same butternut squash soup we had at Grisedale, we needed it after 6hr 40mins (so much for our estimates !). The goody bag contained a tee shirt, medal, lots of gels, flapjacks. They also gave us a roadbook which also contained a map of the route. However, we followed the gpx route they supplied which we downloaded on our garmins and the course was signed at most critical places

Photos

Brathay Windermere marathon 2013

I saw a couple of students on Friday who appeared to have the same stomach bug. It had been bad enough for them to have missed exams whicg they will now have to retake in the summer. If felt a bit queasy yesterday and I started to be a bit concerned. However, I woke this morning and felt fine 

We drove down to the start from Penrith and got there in plenty of time to register and seen the 10 in 10 runners start. There have been some awesome performances this year and I was disappointed I hadn't been able to come across and watch them on a quieter day

For the marathon itself, they had the same rolling start as last year but we were much nearer the front this time. Not really by design and we knew that it meant that many faster runners would be coming by us and this is exactly what happened.

There quite a few supporters out on the course and there was a lovely atmosphere  We doodled along at about 9 min 30 pace, apart from the 8th mile containing the dreaded hill. Halfway in just over 2 hours 

Then it was the tough third quarter and we got through it in what felt was a reasonable pace, but looking at the splits they weren't too good. Then suddenly having completed the hardest bit I ran out of energy at about 18m. I sent MelanieLH ahead and took a bit of break to eat a 9 bar. MelanieLH went on and did very well, less than two minutes away from setting a new pb and she finished twenty minutes ahead of me  

But I never really got much energy back. I finished in 4hr 39min and I was happy with that 

A few of my clubmates did this event this year. I have been banging on about how good it is and it looks like it has had an effect finally 

My seventh Brathay Windermere marathon  Just remembered I had this photo of me at mile 21 on my first Brathay Windermere marathon in 2007 (my first marathon)

I didn't feel like that at mile 21 this year !

Marathon of the North 2013

I'm not keen on the name for this event, I think there are plenty of other events which would be stronger contenders for that title. But I guess the organisers thought it sounds grander than the Sunderland marathon.

I did this last year, but this year they introduced a half marathon and altered the route for the marathon itself. Last year we had about 18m south of the river and 8m to the north. This year the distances were about the same for both sides of the river. I enjoyed the first half more and the second half less as the bits they added seemed to include a few extra hills.

Incredible numbers of people from my club were running - 31 just for the marathon ! Then there were 11 for the half and 4 for the 10K. There was relay for the first time, but it appeared to have a very small number of teams, nothing like Vienna two weeks ago when there were 2700 teams. This event, being our closest marathon, has definitely inspired people from our club.

It was cold and windy at the start and during the race it varied between wind, rain, cold and about ten minutes of sun - a few of us, including me, managed to get sun or wind burnt. It was a very well organised event, not too crowded, well stocked and staffed drinks stations.

I joined six other clubmates who were running as a group. There were three other groups running at various speeds and it was great seeing the other groups and individual Striders on the many out and back sections. I have mixed feelings about out and back sections, it is great to see other people, but then you are always wondering where the turn around point is and you know what is coming on the back leg. You also get back to where you started but a bit more tired. 

My group was aiming for ten minute miles. I stuck with them until about 18m when I felt myself dropping behind. They were about 3 minutes ahead of schedule at that point so I didn't worry too much about it. But then we had an into the strong wind section and two out and back sections which involved climbs on the way out and they disappeared into the distance. I just lost energy at this point. I had been hoping for sub 4hr 30min but I could see that slipping away as I was walking more. I then aimed to do better than my other six long events this year and I did achieve that. Just before the end I came across an old running friend who was marshalling and he ran with me for 400m which really helped. Then it was over the railway bridge to be greeted by lots of cheers from my clubmates and the crowd  Into the finish just outside the Stadium of Light and then into the Stadium (impressive place) past the manager's area to get medals, tee shirts, goody bag and bananas.

Then it was cheering in other members of our club and then in the evening we went and took over a local pub. So although my time was a little disappointing (more work mid-week needed I think), it was a grand day out  

Vienna City marathon 2013

This was a good city marathon. Pretty flat and scenic with regular water stations. My 80th marathon/ultra and my first one outside the UK. It was never going to be a pb for me, I am doing too many long races and no training so the plan was to enjoy the scenery and atmosphere. It would have been great to get under 4.30, a time which I used to achieve without much difficulty three years ago, but realistically sub-5 was the likely outcome. This would easily be my fastest time this year as my previous five marathons/ultras this year have all been hilly, off road and required navigation (HORN) events.

MelanieLH and I had help before the start, my sister lives in Vienna and we went to the house of one of her friends which was 50 yards from the starting pens  We could relax, use their toilets and then just pop out fifteen minutes before the start and go into our allocated pen. It was clear that our pen contained people from other pens and it was fairly crowded. It is a while since I have done a large event and it did remind me of the VLM and GNR or rather what I don't like about those events, there are too many people ! 

Our pen was starting about 9 minutes after the main start. This was going to make it tricky to catch Haile Gebrselassie (who easily won the half marathon) so I decided not to attempt that ... Everything seemed to start on time and we took a bit longer to cross the line. The field was spread across both lanes of a dual carriageway and we crossed the Danube 

http://www.vienna-marathon.com/?menu=0&url=starter&lang=en

and headed towards to the famous wheel of the Third Man fame where we turned left and into the Prata, a large park.

Before the start of the race I struggled with working out the route. The best way I can describe it as a letter 'X'. We started at the top right arm and ran towards the centre, then the bottom right arm, bottom left, top left and finally the bottom right again. The centre wasn't a single point but the Ring (the inner ring road which used to be the city walls, but the walls were all demolished about two hundred years ago and replaced by many of Vienna's iconic buildings), so when we got close to the centre we started to go round the Ring before going out on another arm. That is a simplified description, if you want more detail, go to http://www.fetcheveryone.com/routes-view.php?id=1295947

As we went into the Prata the course narrowed a bit which made the crowding a bit worse. We had been told it would be crowded in the first 10k, but it didn't really thin out until the half marathoners turned into the fantastic finish that we would be visiting 13.1m later. The first two drinks stations (every 5K or so) were chaos, they didn't have enough staff to cope with the demand from runners. It was a hot day, relatively speaking, with little wind. Three weeks earlier we had completed a marathon route completely covered in about four inches of snow, this felt so different ! We managed to stay together after these chaotic drinks stations and they were better staffed after this and some of these drink stations had bananas which I hadn't seen before (there was a downside to this, you expect to be trampling over plastic glasses in these sorts of events, but banana skins were more challenging !).

What made the race even more crowded is that it is popular with locals who participate in the relay event. Last year there were 6000 finishers in the marathon and 2700 relay teams, a staggering number. These teams were often a mixture of fast and slow runners, so we had fast runners flying by throughout the race or weaving round us the first half. I can see the attraction of the relay, there were two long stages and two short stages so lots of people whatever their ability could participate. The change over points were slightly chaotic, with incoming runners desperately trying to spot their outgoing team members. The relay also helped to bring out the crowds although they weren't as noisy as they are in many large UK events.

At the bottom of the bottom left arm was Schönbrunn Palace which we struggled to get a good view of because we were avoiding a change over point for the relay and looking out for my sister who was running the second stage (we never saw her, she finished the second stage before we reached the next change over point). We went back to the Palace the next day, it was stunning, a must see if you go to Vienna.

After the Palace there was an incline upwards back to the Ring, but it didn't feel very much. Then finally the half marathoners turned off through the arches and into the arms of the Hofburg Palace. And there was space  

At this stage I lost Melanie. Normally we run together, but the plan this time was to see how it goes. She was after a good pb, a pb wouldn't be hard as her previous eight marathons/ultras had all been HORN events, but I wasn't in shape for what she was after. So at this stage she drifted away into the distance. I lost sight of her and the 4.30 pacer who was carrying a big flag. I was a bit disappointed that I seemed to be losing energy again, but I knew my training hadn't been adequate and I set out to just enjoy what I could see round the route. I also had to make a toilet stop as I had been taking on lots of water to cope with the heat so I knew there was no chance of catching M again.

I did see her again in the bottom right arm which we did for a second time. This contained a couple of out and back sections, one of them quite long. This was in the Prata where the spectators were thin on the ground. However, they had lots of music booming out of speakers, some of it classical (Vienna has style ) and we also had Robbie Williams asking to entertain us  This made it a bit easier, but at the 34K I got hit by the dreaded cramp in my left calf. It was so painful I had to pull off and stretch, but it didn't seem to help very much. I had been very strict with myself in this event, regular shot bloks, s-caps and water, so I can only put it down to the heat and not being used to long runs on tarmac. I slowed down even further, but then it happened again, so I moved into a walk/run strategy. As I ran through the arches into the grounds of the Hofburg Palace at the finish there was more music and what greeted me was Call Me Maybe which made me cross the finish with a big smile  

http://www.youtube.com/v/6kDcTDD6ye0

I knew I would be under 5hr and came in with 4h 47min which I was happy with  I will let MelanieLH tell the story of her event.

We had a great six days in Vienna, we shall be back