Settle Saunter 27m 2015

We have never done this LDWA event before, but it seemed in a lovely area of the country and Melanie wanted to go up Ingleborough again, the last time she went up she was eight years old.

We went over the night before and stayed in Burnley. We wondered round Thompson Park in the evening The park is fairly close to the middle of Burnley and we were amazed to see a deer about twenty meters away from us, It checked that we weren't getting any closer and carried on feeding.

We left Burnley at 6.45 for an 8.30 start in Settle. The parking wasn't close to the start in the Victoria Hall, but it wasn't too far and we checked in at registration and received our tally cards with all the checkpoints listed. We managed to buy a sandwich from the local Booths and had that before we started. We weren't expecting too much food at the checkpoints, they were described as 'light refreshments'. We were also told there would be no water at the checkpoint at the top of Ingleborough which seemed perfectly reasonable.

It was clear from the numbers in the hall that there would not many people participating (about 80 over four different routes - 9m, 12m, 16m and 27m). There were only 32 people on the 27m route.

We knew we had to go down a very narrow ginnel (alley) very soon after the start so we made sure we were fairly near the front (this is very unusual for us) and we were about fifth into the ginnel and had no delay.

The first two miles or so were in Settle and were easy going. The next bit I had struggled to match the route description to the the GPS route from a previous year. There was a good reason, they had changed the course and the route description made much more sense.

There was a small climb before Fizor, the first checkpoint but on the whole the first seven and a bit miles were easy going through beautiful countryside which was reasonably flat.

However, there were quite a number of gates to open and close and stiles to climb over. We passed through some attractive villages, Fizor, Austwick and Clapham.

After Clapham we started the climb up Ingleborough.

It was long, rocky and tiring. We had cloud cover, but it was warm and very humid which made things a bit more tricky.

We reached the summit (11m),

checked in and started the steep descent, which got much more runnable after a while - we flew down some of it, trail running at its most enjoyable. Then after we had descended, the stiles (particularly ladder sties which just sap your energy) start to come in numbers.

We made it back to Clapham (a different way) and started to head back towards Settle. The way out had been pretty flat but this time we were sent up several hills. After leaving Clapham, the route description talked about passing through two tunnels. We were a bit doubtful they would really be tunnels, but they were. I have no idea why they were there.

After Austwick we entered a site special scientific interest - Oxenber and Wharfe Woods. They were full of bluebells which were just past their best. A few weeks ago it must have been an amazing site.

At the Fizor checkpoint we were told we were joint 7th. I don't think we have ever been so high in the field before. We managed to hang on to this until the end. Exactly seven hours it took us, but my total count was 44 stiles, 34 normal gates and 4 kissing gates. They all disrupt your running and deplete your energy. Then of course there was Ingelborough, which took quite a while.

At the finish there was tea and the usual meal, pie and peas followed by peaches and rice pudding. How they make any money out of a £10 entry fee is amazing.

All in all a lovely, scenic but tough day out. Certainly tougher underfoot than last Sunday's Lakeland Trails marathon.

Photos

Lakeland Trails marathon 2015

My third  and Melanie's second time for this beautiful, scenic run. We normally enter the Challenge (there are two races on the same course, with the Challenge being mainly for those who run a bit slower), but there are two disadvantages with this. Firstly you have to collect your race number and chip the day before and secondly it starts at 7.00 in the morning. The advantage is that if it is hot (and it has been the two previous times I have run it in 2011 and 2013) then you can get a lot of it done before it starts to get really warm.

We drove over to Coniston after our regular 30min pacing run at Durham parkrun and stopped off in Torver for a coffee. Then up to Coniston Hall to collect our number and then back to Kendal to check in at the hotel. It was at that point that Melanie realised that she had left a suitcase at home. She had some running gear such as shoes, but no top or tights or underwear and nothing much to wear after of the following day. It was about 3.30 on Saturday at this point. We looked at what spares I had, but none of them were suitable. We went into Kendal, found a Boyes' and Pete Bland's and managed to pick up basically what was needed. Some of it wasn't ideal but it was the best we could do in the time.

Melanie didn't sleep all night so when the alarm went off at 4.30 she wondered whether she should be running a marathon. She decided to go for it and she seemed to have lots of energy when she was running.

We arrived at the start area at about 6.10 and faffed around getting ready and chatting to Eric and Gillian and several old friends from Fetcheveryone. Just before the start Melanie had gone to use the toilets but the queue was too long. However, we ran past them after the start, so we both stopped to use them and started way behind everybody else (thanks to Eric for some of the pictures)

The route leaves Coniston Hall and goes across fields on hard packed trails (lots of these to come) to the village. We had caught the back markers at this point which was lucky as the route had changed and we hadn't expected this. We went down to the lake before heading through the village.

There is a fair of climbing in the first half, some of it it on quiet country roads but the rest on trails. The sections through woods are particularly beautiful and there are some wonderful views of the
Langdales.

Finally we made it Tarn Howes which is just stunning !

Then it is a bit of drag up to about 14m which is the highest point which has great views of the Lake.

Then a tricky rocky descent down to the bottom of the Lake at Water Yeat.

The water stations were fairly frequent and every other one had food. After Water Yeat we started the climb up to Beacon Tarn which seemed a bit longer than I remembered. However, normally I am very tired at that point, but this year I felt good, mainly because the sun had stayed behind clouds for the vast majority of the time.

The path round the tarn was particularly boggy and the technical bit afterwards was as slow going as ever. Then a nice bit of descent down to the Lake and the tree root section alongside the Lake. The tree root section ends about 2m from the end and it is an easy run in from there if you have any energy left. I didn't have much so Melanie went on and finished just ahead of me. We met up with half marathon runners just before the end.

We came in about 10min faster than in 2013 which I think shows how much difference the lack of heat makes.

A beautiful marathon, if you haven't done it, go and enjoy 😀

Photos

2013 blog

Brathay Windermere marathon 2015

My ninth marathon here and eight years since my very first marathon which was at Brathay. I do love this event, although the route is far from easy with constant undulations and two big hills.

We started out for the Lakes very early on Saturday morning and did the Barrow parkrun. A new one for us and it turned out to be more hilly than we expected. We went a little too fast (my fault). Lovely park. We then watched the 10 marathons in 10 days runners go through Newby Bridge and Ambleside - they do the Windermere marathon course every day. We collected our race numbers and looked at the lovely view from the lawn, the weather was lovely on the Saturday

Melanie (her third marathon here) and I were a little nervous about the marathon as the last road marathon we did felt a long time ago - York last October. We have also not done much road training, so how would we do when trying to run most of a 26m route ? We decided that it would be nice to get under 5hr, but we thought we would be pretty close to that.

There were more Striders here this year than any other. It might be related to this event being in the Striders Grand Prix, but I think quite a few people just wanted to run it or do a race as a training run. The weather on the Sunday was overcast, dark and cold, not conditions I had encountered here before.This presented the usual 'What shall I wear' question. I went for a short sleeved top and my showerproof top. I was wearing my new Hoka Cliftons which I have only worn once before for the North Tyneside 10K. I felt great in them at that race and I loved them here as well - so light and great cushioning.

Not happy at being parked a 'long' way from the Hall...

We set off and found ourselves running at slightly less than 10 min/mile pace. A bit faster than we expected, but we thought we would see how long that lasted. Until at least halfway as it happened. Then we encountered the tricky third quarter undulations. That slowed us down a bit and we walked some of the uphills to try and preserve some energy for the last quarter. To my surprise I was feeling I had more energy than Melanie, which rarely happens. She told me to go on, but I wasn't confident that I could sustain the pace, so I played safe and took it easy in this section. When I finally did go on at about 18m, she caught me fairly quickly, so it seemed pointless and we ran together until 25m. I had earlier said that we could get under 4hr 30min and at 25m I was starting to struggle badly, so Melanie went on. As it turned out, we both made it with me 30sec behind her at the finish - 4hr 26min 50sec for me (and third in my age category !). Very unexpected.

It was great to see many other marathon runners I know and to see Foxy and Rents do the 10 marathons in 10 days event. Rents for the second time and Foxy for the sixth time, an amazing achievement !

Photos

2014 blog

Hardmoors White Horse marathon 2015

It has been a while since our last marathon, we didn't do one in April at all, which is unusual for us. However, we had been on holiday during that time and covered about 55 miles, so we thought that might keep us in some sort of form. We are now doubting that our training was good enough, because we found this marathon very hard. I completely ran out of energy towards the end and walked most of the last four miles which were an uphill drag. This has partly to do with just getting over a cold which lasted a few days last week.

The route looked stunningly attractive on all the photos that course markers put on Facebook. When we arrived it was just throwing it down with rain with a strong wind from the east. The views from Sutton Bank should have been fantastic, but visibility was very poor. The marshalls did an amazing job out there, it must have been grim standing around in that. We did the entire event in full waterproofs top and bottoms.

The route followed the Cleveland Way for a short while and then descended steeply to Gormire Lake. That descent was made a bit more hazardous as many of the leading runners missed the turn (I guess the tape had been removed) and came flying past very close. We were more sheltered round the lake but then we had an enormous climb back up again to the Cleveland Way where we met the full fury of the weather again. My calf also started to tweek on that climb which felt a bit ominous given it was so early in the race.

We followed the Cleveland Way past the first checkpoint at High Paradise farm and then onto the moors. We then had to turn east into the wind and the rain. We walked that stretch, but it wasn't long before we descended steeply and things calmed down a bit. From there we went up and down and went through some very muddy sections until shortly after the second checkpoint, Melanie had a big fall on to a hard surface. She had some pain at the time, but hoped it would get better, but she was feeling her knee for the rest of the race.

We reached Hawnby which was followed by a steep climb up Hawnby Hill and down the other side (yet another tricky descent) to checkpoint 3, which was just under halfway. Then yet another climb over the shoulder of another hill, another tricky descent and then a lovely downhill run across fields, before a 1:4 ascent up a road to a checkpoint where it was great to see our clubmate Denise who was marshalling there.

Then into a forest and private land, where the track turned into a mud bath. Again there was a tricky descent and a muddy ascent. We turned a corner on that ascent to see the track covered in debris left after tree felling. It was hard to believe that was the route, but tape was there and our Garmins seemed to indicate that was the right way.

The route levelled out a bit after this and we went past the lovely Rievaux Abbey which looked great with the clouds on the hills behind. Flip was marshalling there and he had saved us some jaffa cakes to eat

Then back on to the Cleveland Way and we reached the final checkpoint which was manned by our two clubmates Anita and Mark. It was great to see them before we started the drag upwards to the finish at Sutton Bank. We had sunshine in those last four miles and the views at the end were great, it was just sad we didn't get them at the start.

Great route and yes I would probably do it again. This event was also the first time I had done any serious distance in my new Scott Kinabalu Supertrac shoes. Their grip was excellent and the cushioning was good as well - I like to have cushioning in my running shoes.

Photos

Charnwood marathon 2015

We have only run this race once before which was in 2013. The event was in March as usual but on the day of the event there were several inches of snow on the ground and it snowed for most of the time we were out.

This time the weather forecast was for cloud, temperatures between 6 and 9 degrees with a northerly wind of about 12 mph which would probably only affect us in the last few miles.

We stayed overnight in Loughborough and got to the start in Quorn at about 8.00 and just missed the walkers setting off.

The runners were leaving at 9.00 and we had time to chat to a few people we know from the 100 marathon club. Runners could choose from two distances 15m and 26m and there seemed to be a preference for the 15m, which had the same route as the 26m for the first 6m.

We started at a different point to avoid a narrow road and there was only one other change from 2013 near the end where the route had been changed to avoid a very boggy section.

The route meanders along quiet roads, tracks, alongside fields for the first three or four miles and then we started the first climb. The first two pictures above show us about half way up that climb. Then past the first self-clip and down to the bottom of Beacon Hill before another climb up the summit. Soon after that we were at the 6m checkpoint where the routes divide.

The conditions underfoot were much better than two years ago and also there was very little mud compared to the Belvoir event we did three weeks ago.

In the first part of the event there were lots and lots of kissing gates. Later they thinned out to be replaced by stiles. To find our way we were using the I had amended from 2013 which we had downloaded to our Garmins. There was the occasional sign, but we could see others who were using the route description and not having any difficulties.

There were more undulations and we went through another checkpoint at a monastery and after a moor type section plunged down before starting a climb to the highest point in Leicestershire. The self clip was on the trig point so we had to go all the way.

Then it was more gentle undulations before the final climb up through Bradgate Park,

March 2013

where there was another self clip before reaching the final check point in the car park at the bottom. Just four and half miles of relatively flat countryside after that before a road section to the finish, where there was an excellent choice of soups with cakes to follow. I do love LDWA type events :-)

We were pleased with our times, just over 5hr 30min, a whole 1hr 20min faster than in 2013 !

Photos

2013 blog : Lisrun: Charnwood marathon 2013