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 !
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