Newcastle Town Moor marathon 2010

The plan today was to take it very steady and see how long it took me to run out of steam. Since Ripon at the start of October, my calf problems have restricted my running and my longest run was last Monday. That one was 13m and I ran out of steam at 8m, so the omens were not good.

Lent a hand setting up Fetchpoint (the support point for runners from Fetcheveryone) and then went off to get ready and made my way to the start. Just lots and lots of people I knew, local runners, three clubmate and lots of Fetchies. The marshalls were mainly the same ones as last year and one remembered me from last year. Some of the marshalls also marshall at the Parkrun so there were lots of familiar faces. The marshalls were very encouraging, I wouldn't fancy being stuck out there for so long in that weather.

The weather was not great. It could have been much worse because the Town Moor is very exposed and and when it windy running is a nightmare. However, it was only a very light breeze. Its was a bit cold but what made it worse was the rain. The showers did not last long but they came very regularly. I felt lucky that I had decided to run in a waterproof top.

I started at a steady 10 minute miles and was soon near the back, but that didn't worry me and I did wonder if I was going a bit fast, but it felt comfortable and I remained at that pace for almost the entire race. Others slowed so from lap 3 onwards and I started to overtake people which helped with the motivation. On the fifth lap, I was sure I was going to tire, but I still seemed able to grind out that pace. I did walk the hill on the final lap but I knew I could do that and get under 4hr 30 which was almost 30 minutes better than the time I thought I might get. So I was very happy that I didn't run out of steam

We all passed Fetchpoint five times and the support there was just great. I did get teased by one Fetchie at Fetchpoint though. Last Sunday I paced her to a 10K pb on the Town Moor and as we got near to the finish I said 'There is a slight hill coming up and you need to dig in' and as we climbed I said 'Dig in Lesley'. We got to the top and turned into the finishing straight and I said something along the lines of 'Use all that's left and go for the pb' ! Now Fetchpoint was shortly before that hill and every time I went past she used all those lines on me. That happened five times ! I will be more careful what I say next time

Anna Seeley was the first Strider home and Andrew Thompson was close behind having had a great run and gaining a new personal best ! Phil Owen ran three laps, but his knee was starting to hurt so he wisely pulled out

Round Ripon Ultra 35m 2010

I love running round Ripon. I had never been there until I started running. My first race in that area was Kirby Malzeard 10K. It was hilly and tough, but I loved it. I have been back in that area for the Fountains 10K, the Ripon 10m, the Jolly Holly Jog 10k, the Burn Valley Half marathon, the Melmerby 10k, the Yorkshire 10K and the Muddy Boots 10k.

I wasn't very well prepared for today's race which was the first running of this event. I haven't done much running since Kielder at the beginning of the month.

There were about forty starters and we started by running from Studley Roger, a beautiful village and one of many lovely ones that we went through today and headed towards Ripon. We took a slightly convoluted route through the town and we were ushered through by the runners from the Ripon Runners club who started slowly to ensure none of us got lost in this section.

There was no marking on this course, just a map book with the route marked with a thick red line. It was a bit too thick and it was a bit difficult to see what was underneath. There were four well stocked checkpoints.

Before I got to the first checkpoint I was following three runners and they were looking at their map booklet so I just relied on them. This was a bit silly and we ended up in a quarry quite a bit off the route!

The first seven and a bit miles (well a bit more for some of us) to the first checkpoint were fairly easy going. After that we were pretty close to the river and then entered woods (but not before two more unplanned diversions ). Here it became much more difficult, muddy, slippy, lots of tree roots, it was slow progress. Those ahead of me paused to decide which route to take (we were following the Ripon Rowell path for most of race, but the waymarkers were often hidden, non existent or one occasion wrong !). I decided that it was time to get out my Satmap GPS. Whenever I bring it to races I find I don't need it, but it was clearly time to use it now - I should have used it from the start. It made route finding much easier from then on. I did make one further mistake, but because I followed an incorrect waymarker and didn't check the GPS until a quarter of mile later - dumb!

Lots of people got lost. I started at the back and overtook a few, then people who were clearly faster than me appeared and overtook me ! I didn't meet anyone who didn't get lost, some of them much more seriously than me.

There was three sections across the moors. I found these quite difficult to find the way, the paths weren't clear at all. There was also some sections on quiet roads. Other bits were very marshy, across muddy fields, but the second half had lots of hills.

There was nine miles between checkpoint 3 and 4 and that was pretty tough considering the terrain.

All the runners and marshalls were very chatty and friendly so overall it was a lovely, but tough event.

It finished by running down the road through the Deer Park (and the deer were very near the road today). I have run up that road many times, but never down - it was so much easier !

I finished in 7hr 57min. At one stage I was expecting eight and half hours so I was very pleased. Anna finished a few minutes ahead of me after also going off route. Will I be back ? Probably, it should be easier if the route is the same !

Kielder Challenge 26m 2010

The alarm went off at 5 again. I struggled to get out of the house by 6 and then it was a fast drive to Kielder. Up the A1 which was nice and quiet, as was the A69 and then north on the rollercoaster which is the A68, those hidden summits are fun

Then through the fog to Kielder. The car park was much more crowded with double the number of entrants this year. I had run round Kielder twice before today and both times were close to 5 hours so I would have been very happy with 4hr 59min, but I wasn't holding out too much hope as I have done quite a few long runs recently.

The runners were starting first at 8.00 and as we gathered at the line, up came a woman in a midge net and said hi Dave. It was a Fetchie named Soph, who I had only met online before and we then ran the entire race together

I realised pretty early on that we were running up hills I had walked up before. If a hill was particularly long and steep Soph would say 'run as far as that tree'. At first I wasn't quite sure which one she meant and I usually guessed at a tree (there were a lot of them) somewhat nearer than she meant ! Then there would be a call of 'Come on Rave Dave' (which I haven't been called since school ). Then there was the singing, I am not going to forget both of us singing Yesterday as we crossed the dam - neither is anyone who heard us !

I had a bit of an equipment failure. I took a bum bag, the same one which had lasted most of Grimsthorpe. It had one working bottle holder left, but after about 8m the bottom of the only bottle holder broke and the bottle fell through . I had also noticed that my insect repellent spray had leaked all over the bag contaminating everything in there including my shot blocks and s!caps. I also smelt of insect repellent (we didn't have any problem with midges though !) and my companion regularly took the mickey out of me ! The bum bag ended up in the bin at the end of the race.

The fog lifted after about an hour and half and it started to heat up a bit. Kielder and the the Lakeside Walk are just lovely and there was only a light cooling breeze. The undulations are tough though, 2000 ft of ascent apparently.

We finished in 4hr 25min which is an incredible time for me on that course ! Totally unexpected and it was down to Soph, I could not have done that without her.

Then it was off to the pub for food, drink and chat. A lovely day.

Smuggler's Trod 26m 2010

This turned out to be a lovely run

Up at 5.00 as it was an 8.00 start at Robin Hood's Bay. The weather was sunny, but with a bit more than a cooling breeze, but it wasn't up to a gale.

The start was across the main car park at Robin Hood's Bay and the it turned uphill pretty quickly. I decided that it wasn't runnable so I walked as quick as I could, turning round every now and then to see the lovely view south down the coast

There was a limit of 350 entrants and it looked line about 100 were runners which is a much higher proportion that I had seen at recent LDWA events. The other unusual thing was the number of checkpoints. Fifteen in total for a 26m route ! Some were self clips, others manned with no refreshments and some with lots of hot and cold drinks and lots of food . Some of the helpers at the checkpoints were dressed as pirates and lots of the signs were decorated with the skull and crossbones.

The route directions which I downloaded a while ago were pretty good so I knew where I was going most of the time. The course was also marked, so I never needed my Satmap (GPS), map or the route directions.

Great views of Whitby when we got onto the moors. Some of the paths were overgrown with heather or bracken so it wasn't always easy to see where you were putting your feet. Most of the ground was pretty dry, but on the moors there were some boggy bits

We came off the moors a few times into some lovely North Yorkshire hamlets, but then there was the inevitable climb back up again to the moors.

From about 17m to 20m it felt a long slog upwards and I thought I might have run out of steam. But once past the the high point at 20m, we descended and ran along an old railway line and I was fine there. Then there was descent into Robin Hood's Bay and the finish was the climb out of Robin Hood's Bay dodging all the tourists Some finish ! Finished in 5hr 20min 35sec

Pie and peas (again!) followed by rice pudding and peaches at the finish.

Northumberland Coast marathon 2010

I love the Northumberland Coastal Run which is 14m from Beadnell to Alnmouth. So when the opportunity came up to run a marathon on roughly the same course out and back from Alnmouth, I jumped at it and I am glad I did. An added advantage was that it was almost all offroad and it took me down trails I hadn't covered before.

A very small invited field of about forty including 100 marathon club members, locals and Anna Seeley and myself. Phil Owen was there supporting on his mountain bike and as is almost inevitable when Phil is around we had a sunny day. We started with a slight cooling breeze, but that developed in the second half which made it tough. It also got warmer and I was resorting to pouring a bottle of water over my head at the checkpoints. However, I seemed to dry out in about five minutes.

I had spent four and half hours on a mountain bike the day before and as I expected, I ran out of steam. This was at about 18m and I ran/walked from there. The scenery in the sunlight was just awesome. I managed to come in under 5 hours so I was happy with that. Anna finished not far ahead of me

One of the advantages of a small field is it increases your chance of a prize and I won my age category ! It's only the second time I have ever done that

I will definitely do this one again

Elsecar Skelter 27m 2010

I did this run last year and I enjoyed it, so I decided to do it again. The alarm went off at 4.45. I heard the rain outside and I turned over.

But I didn't go to sleep and at 5.00 I forced myself out of bed, got myself together and left the house at 5.45.

The journey down to near Barnsley was painless apart from the 17m of road works on the A1 which have a 50 mph speed limit. Only two more years before they finish!

The weather was quite bad on the way down but it was just grey when I got to Elsecar and registered. I hadn't expected to see any Fetchies, but it was great to see two I had met before. We ran together until the first checkpoint, but I didn't see them after that and I had to shoot off afterwards so I don't know how they found it.

The route description was only available on the day which gave people very little time to study it. This meant that lots of people seemed to make mistakes and I spent a lot of of the race stopping people from going the wrong way. I did make a very minor mistake myself and there was one point where I took a wild guess about the right way and it was right.

We passed Wentworth Woodhouse where I had my first job in a teacher training college and it was lovely to see it again. It was raining quite a bit then and it developed into a short cloudburst. The view from Wharncliffe Craggs was lovely and we seemed to pass many follies and country houses. It was undulating mainly with just a couple of hills.

The undergrowth seemed much more developed this year and my legs stung from all the nettles for at least a day after.

I liked it a lot. Knowing the route saved me loads and loads of time - I was 90 minutes faster than last year. I was also only 6 minutes behind the first person home - I have never been so close to the front before - and probably won't be again !

Lovely pie and peas afterwards.

Grimsthorpe Ultra 70m 2010

Drove down on Thursday night and stayed the night in a Travelodge which was next to a lorry park. Bad idea as the lorries started moving before 5. Breakfast in the neighbouring Little Chef - porridge followed by pancakes and coffee. The day before had included three portions of pasta and lots of fluids.

Got to Grimsthorpe to find an attractive country house/castle with undulating countryside surrounding it. We had to take anything we wanted for the duration of the race out of our car and leave it in the organiser's tent which we would pass regularly. This involved me carrying loads of extra kit over to the tent, most of which I didn't use, but I was grateful for some of it.

The structure of the event was one lap of 3m which took in the beginning of the larger lap and the end of the larger lap, then seven large laps of 9.6m followed by a finish running up the drive to the lit up castle with glow sticks marking the finish line - a nice finish.

I now feel I know every blade of grass personally.The larger lap started downhill down a tarmaced estate road (only farm traffic)

down to the lake then a limestone track upwards (which I always walked), then a lovely gentle down hill on limestone trail then a gentle rise upwards which I walked more of after the second lap. Then a turn onto the estate road again and a steep climb up (at this point you had the chance to see some of the runners coming the other way who were further round the lap. Then turn into some lovely woods on an uneven grass trail with more climbing. At the top we then turned into a lightly wooded area with sheep and we ran through what I would call fairy grass, mid calf, not thick over uneven ground. This was one of my favourite bits as it was flat and lovely to run through. Back onto limestone tracks, down, then up, more limestone trail and then onto a grass track to the first self clip checkpoint. More grass track slightly down hill, lovely, then back to the estate road where we turned to head back. This was the killer section. Imagine those approach roads to country estates where they have rows of trees either side, they are dead straight, flat and in the distance you can see the castle. This particular section was just incredibly, mind sappingly dull and very, very long with just one bend. Although flat I found it very hard to run all of it, it felt like it was sucking the energy out of me. Then a descent where we met runners not so far round the lap.

Lovely descent into woods to the lake. Onto an ascending grass trail which I walked mostly to the second self clip checkpoint, then a lovely downhill on grass, more undulating limestone trail. More ascending grass trail up to a lovely flat section in woods which led to the organiser's tent. So a varied course, apart from the one very long section. Lots of wildlife - hares, rabbits, bats, some creature like a small dog I didn't even recognise!

The first small lap was fine and I ran round with someone I knew from Fetcheveryone. I lost him at the end of that lap as he stopped to pick up a drink. First big lap was fine just watching where we were going - it was well marked. Halfway round I realised my new bum bag had split where the bottle went in. Luckily I had brought a spare bum bag with me.

Second big lap, in a good groove. Gave some of my water to a runner who was suffering as he had used all of his water.

Third big lap. Wham, hit the wall big time, walking lots, very grim. Suddenly seemed to be drinking loads and I almost ran out soon after halfway. Luckily the organisers were patrolling and I managed to get some water off them, but I finished that by the end of lap. Realised that I hadn't taken on board anywhere near enough water on the first two laps so carried two bottles from the fourth lap on.

Fourth big lap, better than the third but still pretty grim.

Fifth big lap. Much better, running much more of the route.

Sixth lap. First half was fine. It got dark about halfway, but I was mainly on road so I was able to keep up a good pace. It was easier running the long straight bit in the dark as you couldn't see how long it lasted.

Didn't stay long at the checkpoint as I could see a chance of being sub 15 hours, but I had forgotten that for me running with a head torch on uneven ground is always slower, so I missed out by quite a margin, though I was still feeling very fresh at the end where I could see where I as putting my feet.

I finished 14th out of 30 finishers. Four people did not finish.

Nutrition - went well, Muller rice was just great and went down very easily. Philadelphia sandwiches become very dull and were replaced by cereal bars. Tescos pasta was brilliant. Started with stop blocks, but gave up on them. Used an Succeed S!cap every lap and Nunn for a couple of laps. One of the advantages of laps was that you got access to your food and kit every 9.6m. It seemed to work and I had no cramps at all and no blisters. I ran in road shoes. Changed socks and top after five big laps.

Perfect weather, hardly any wind, cloudy until the end of day. No rain.

Many people think I am bonkers to be running long distances. One of the participants was a jugglerunner, that is a runner who juggles as he runs. And yes I believe he juggled balls for all of the 70m (he had luminous ones for the night !). I am not in that league (yet).

After I finished I went to sleep for a few hours and woke again at 7 and went over to the main checkpoint. There were still five people out there on the course (the cut off was a very generous 27 hours). I really admire those people.

I got home and found it difficult to walk much for the following two days. Stairs were particularly hard!

Lessons learnt:

1) Give up with bum bags (my second one also split on the final lap) and take a backpack
2) Think more about how much water to take
3) Remember you will be slower with a head torch
4) Avoid lapped races with long straight sections
5) Do more runs on consecutive days - I only did one pair.

I can't see myself doing this again, it was good, but I just feel I know the route so well, the thought of doing that route again seven times would drive me crazy (or even more so than I am already).

Osmotherley Phoenix 33m 2010

Last year I was uncertain whether I would do this run again as I found it very tough and the warm weather made it harder. However, memories fade and when it came round to entering this one again, I could not resist it. The scenery and the views are great, the checkpoints are well stocked with food and drinks and there is a good friendly atmosphere.

The route follows the Cleveland Way out of Osmotherley, past Lords Cafe, but then avoids the three following hills which include the Wainstones, before returning to the Cleveland Way and the climb out of Clay Bank. Then after the trig point, its down to Chop Gate and a very tough climb out of there towards Wheat Beck. After some more lovely countryside, its a long climb back onto the moors and onto the Cleveland Way again, but this time south of Osmotherley and you follow the Cleveland Way back to Osmotherley.

Last year I got injured and walked quite a bit of the last ten miles. This year I had no injury problems and managed to improve my time by 30 minutes to 7hr 40min, but I can't imagine me doing doing this event much faster that that.

Brathay Windermere marathon 2010

Dave Robson

I left home early on Saturday morning to support the 10 marathons in 10 days runners. They do the Windermere marathon route every day and the final day is the day of the race itself. I got to Brathay and registered and spoke to some of the runners and other friends from Fetch who had arrived to see them start. The 10 in 10 runners are an amazing group of people, I am very impressed and in awe of them all. Both the fastest male and female records were beaten this year.

I then drove down to the Swan at Newby Bridge and watched most of them through there and then onto the hill at 21m to see most of them through that bit. Lots of people from Fetch and friends and relatives of the runners at both points to chat to, so time flew by. The day had started pretty cloudy but it was pretty warm by the end.

Then off to Wilf's in Staveley to meet up with my daughter and partner and later my son and his partner. Lovely meal later and then I had an early night whilst the youngsters had a few drinks in the village.

Up early this morning for a light breakfast for me (but not for them, I just looked on enviously) and then drove to Brathay. Lots of chat, saw the 10 in 10 runners off again and then prepared for my own race. I had no idea how I might do. 4.30 - 5.00 would be fine. 4.15 would be great, sub 4 no chance.

I started off steadily and after a few miles I was just over 9 min/mile pace, which was nice. How long would that last ? Got to halfway in dead on 2hr and I started to dream a little. Then I remembered the third quarter is the hardest part, lots of ups and downs in that section so I said to myself 'get through that and see where you are at 20m'. Well I was 3hr 5min at 20m and starting to tire, so sub-4 had gone. I kept going to some Fetch supporters at the top of the steep 21m hill and got lots of cheers and encouragement ('get running', 'we'll be watching to see if you walk any more' !), but then as three years ago, I just seemed to lose everything in my legs just when I could have put my foot down. I resorted to telling myself just to grind it out. Managed to reach 25m in 3h 55min so realised I had an excellent chance of a course pb. The last mile and bit was tough and I had to walk up the steep drive, but I got home in 4hr 10min 53sec a course pb and my third fastest marathon ever, so I was very pleased.

I was very tired after the finish, I just had to lie down for a while. Its been some time since I have so tired after a marathon. I think last weekend's races were the reason, but overall I was very happy.

Haltwhistle Challenge 26m 2010

Gee that was a bit of a toughie ! This was the first year they had invited runners to this event, it was walkers only last year and 37 runners started two hours after the 140 or so walkers today.

They didn't want runners running through the town so they started us on the north edge of the town and finished us on the south edge. This meant we covered less distance than the walkers in theory and it was a bit less than the advertised 26m, I measured it as just under 24m. I say in theory because we had a long walk from Race HQ to the start and a long walk from the finish to Race HQ, so we did cover close to 26m but not the normal way !

Apart from that it was a lovely event. I left home early, picked up Phil Owen and got there about an hour before the start. Chatting to other runners and then made our way to the start. We were told to beware of cows and their calves but this was only likely to be an issue for the front runners, so that was a relief.

Within about a quarter of a mile, we started to climb and climb. We got to Hadrian's Wall which looked lovely, but there was a very strong wind from the north which had made in hard going. It was also sunny all the way round, so in spite of applying sun cream I resemble a beetroot at the moment.

We ran in the vallum for a while which took away some of the fierce undulations, but we did have to run along a section of the wall. Well I say run, but the climbs were very steep so they had to be walked. After a mile or so we headed further north and then west before returning to the wall and headed down to Greenhead for the halfway checkpoint which was serving soup. I opted out of that and headed on and caught up with Phil who had been running more hills than I was, but had been slowing down on the tarmac sections. After another climb ! we reached the Pennine Way which I had expected to be wider, but it was a narrow path. In this quarter we were overtaking walkers all the time and this meant no concerns about which way to go. Overall it was very well marked and i did not get the map out at all. This section was peaty moor with some boggy sections so I was glad I had chosen trail shoes.

Then down off the moors to the South Tyne valley, along an old railway line and down to the river and the lovely area around Featherstone Castle and from there back to Haltwhistle.

Pie and peas afterwards. A lovely run, very similar to the Swaledale Marathon for those of you who have done that.

Easter Eggstravaganza 2010

Left house at 5.45 and got to Barnborough near Doncaster about 7.30. South Yorkshire accents abounded and I haven't heard them for many years and it took me back to the time I lived in Rotherham and Sheffield.

I had had some anxiety about route finding for this one (they had sent out details of the 16m route and if you wanted to do the longer route you were given the route description at the second checkpoint, so no forward planning), but I needed have worried. There was a map at the start which I attempted to memorise and mentally trace out on my Satmap (GPS). Also they said it was waymarked with tape, so that was relief :-)

Had some free tea, and talked to some of the other entrants. Then at 8.30 we gathered outside the pub which was race HQ. The organiser stood on the wall and I was expecting a few race instructions. What we got was brief and typical South Yorkshire: 'Gerr off' ;-)

I had driven down through some heavy rain and it was still drizzling fairly heavily when we set off. It continued like that for at least 6 miles. Then it was cloudy and a little breezy, then the last six miles were mainly sunny. Probably round about thirty runners and there were two courses available for the 8.30 starters 26.3m or 16m.

I haven't some many LDWA events which have been waymarked. This one was just incredible, almost every time I started to doubt I was on the right path, a piece of tape would appear on a branch or a bush. Just so well positioned as well, just after every path to the left or right which was not part of the route. There must have been hundreds. I rescued a few people who were chatting away and not watching out for the tape. I became overconfident.... At about 24m in Goldthorpe, I coudn't see any tape at a likely junction, so I carried on. No more tape. Then ahead of me I saw three people walking and one with a rucksack. At this stage I was regularly passing walkers on the shorter route, so I thought I must be right. Then as I got closer I noticed that one of those without a rucksack was carrying a handbag ! And the one with the rucksack was in heels ! So race instructions out for the first time and a check on the satmap revealed the likely junction was the correct one, so back there and of course there was tape, I had just missed it.

Terrain varied, bits of very quiet road, rolling countryside and quite a few very muddy fields which were hard to run on even when flat. Not as bad as Belvoir a few weeks ago, but getting there. Lots of lovely paths through woods and the checkpoints were serving sandwiches, scones with jam, chocolate bars and juice :-) At the end we got a free meal of vegetarian pie, peas and gravy followed by rice pudding and peaches :-) All this for eight pounds :-O

After the shorter and longer route diverged, I didn't see many runners for a while, but the waymarking kept me going. It was just a lovely route.

Got a bit tired in the last 6 miles. I thought at 19m I was on for a sub 5 finish, but getting lost, running out of energy after yesterday's 10K and some steeper and more frequent hills slowed me down a lot so I finished in 5h 17min.

It was the sort of event where time did not matter. People took their shoes off before going into the pub to say they had finished and have their time recorded. I love these events :-)

I will do this again :-)

There are no results.

Hardmoors 55 2010

The brief version—54m (after a late course adjustment). Started at 8.00 finished 23.55. 65 starters, 45 finishers, so 20 dropped out because of the bad weather and two of them had suspected hypothermia. Weather was light rain initially, then heavy rain and strong winds. The weather became much better after 10 hours and then got frosty as the night went on. Lots of hills and muddy

I was concerned about doing a race which would be 21m longer than I have ever done before. Doing a gentle marathon six days before was also worrying me, would it have any effect ? It turned out it didn't which was a relief. I was also worrying about running on my own in the bad weather that was forecast, I find it helps to have company when the weather is bad. Luckily, I joined up with another runner at 22m and ran the next 32m with her. I don't think I would have completed it on my own.

The other crucial thing for me in this race was car support. This wasn't required as there was a drop bag system, but having much more frequent access to equipment and food made a vital difference. My friend spent her longest time in her car—almost 20 hours—much more than she has ever done before—thank you. She has never been involved with a long race before and her greetings at some points - 'You are mental' made me smile in a sort of mad way ;-)

My equipment worked very well. Ran in Helly Hensen base layer, OMM Kamleiker waterproof top, Gore tights, Inov-8 roclites and a Raidlight Endurace back pack. I made a basic error at the start by running in road shoes. It is said you can do the Cleveland Way in road shoes and that might be okay in adry conditions, but they weren't that today as I discovered pretty quickly :-O. Luckily the first car access point was at 5m so I changed into the Roclites then. I also started with gloves that were way too thin for the conditions on the tops. My worst time was when it was sheeting down with rain and my hands got cold. Again a car access point saved me and I changed into fleece gloves. However, in the final stages in the frosty conditions, my hands were getting very cold even with those gloves.

Refueling strategy. Took stop blocks (had about 8 of them), S!cap tablets (used all 8 of them). Had a couple of Cliff bars that were give out on the way round (nice, never had them before). Made sure I had a quarter of a sandwich at every car access point. I had some cashew nuts as well. I also drank Asda's isotonic berry sports drink all the way round, drinking when thirsty. I learnt all this from supporting Phil on the Hardmoors 110 last year and reading Clare's experiences at the Glasgow to Edinburgh, so thanks to those two. The result was I got no cramp, no nausea and my legs felt very good all the way round. I also able to walk down the stairs this morning :-O

The route was basically along the Cleveland Way from Helmsley to Guisborough woods where it then cut back to Guisborough. There are moors, woods, lots of hills, some of some big long climbs, all of which I walked up. Had to walk some the descents too because of the steepness and rocky paths. Two out and back sections at the White Horse and at Roseberry Topping. Because it's a route for walkers mainly and to save it becoming a quagmire, the park authority have put in a lot of large rock slabs which can be slippery and lots of assorted rocks on the ascents and descents. I could not find anyway of running down these safely. I felt I would cause serious damage if I fell on to those rocks. The uneven rocks in the path up and down Roseberry Topping were particularly tough especially with a head torch. There were sometimes fell runner alternatives to these paths, but they were often slippery.

Kielder Water marathon 2010

This year there are three marathons in the same place in the north east. This might appear to be a bit disappointing, but its at Kielder Water and the route is almost entirely off road with a surface which is very comfortable to run on and the scenery is just stunning.

The first one was today and was for 100 marathon club members only. However, buried deeply in the entry form was the qualification that guests could run if there are any places left (there was an entry limit of 50). I asked if I could be a guest and I got in. It was also free, I just needed to take some cake to share with everybody afterwards. This is definitely my sort of marathon. Having done the first event last September, I remembered that it was an undulating course, but it seemed much harder this time. It was certainly windier today. We also started at the top of the reservoir and ran the longer south side first. However the north side is more undulating than the south side and it was into the wind, so it felt pretty tough, I was surprised how tired I was at the end.

My time 5hr 9min, was possibly a bit slower than last time, but it was a longer run today as a bit was added on to ensure that it was at least marathon length. The 100 marathon club members were very welcoming. It was a small field, 20 or so runners.

Lots of folk brought food and there was way too much. I hope they do this again next year, I like these low key events

Belvoir Challenge 2010

This is a popular event and it was full about a month ago - 1200 participants with probably about 400 runners and 800 walkers. There are two routes, the 16m and the 26m. Its very similar to a LDWA event, but its a bit more expensive as all proceeds go to the local school which is the start and end point.

It was a tad muddy today. Last year the conditions were pretty dry. This year there was lots and lots of mud. Some of it was so bad that even when it was flat I couldn't run on it - it was just squelchy and I would be ankle deep in the stuff. Sometimes I would come out of a ploughed field and my shoes would feel twice as heavy as the normally do. There was also plenty of stiles to stretch your legs.

I liked it. Some beautiful villages and Belvoir Castle looked impressive again. It was a new route this year and we got a better view this time. Some of course was used last year, but in the opposite direction. Not too many hills and none of them were particularly big, but the mud made them hard to get up.

The checkpoints were well stocked and the meal at the end was as great as it was last year - soup, pudding, tea and flapjack. Its the twentieth year they have run this event and the organisation is like clockwork. A good run and I am pleased to got round. I was over 30min slower than last year with 5hr 8min, but it felt a totally different event this year.