Britain's Most Southerly 21 mile run.

Whilst down in Cornwall on The Lizard, I snook in this beautiful 21 mile jaunt round the South West Coastal Path running from Coverack in the East to Church Cove in the West. A fantastic route in glorious weather - so glorious in fact that I ran out of Water and Food, only to be rescued by the lovely Porthmellin Tea Rooms at Mullion Cove. Also ran this in my minimal New Balance shoes - was a little harsh on the feet and is certainly the furthest I've ever run in them. Luckily the harsh rocky terrain was mainly in the first half, so my feet at least had a break over the 2nd half.

Strava link here

South West Coast Path - View North from between Kynance Cove and Lizard Point

Snowdonia 30 mile, 10 hours

Descending off Craig Llugwy (Carneddau)

After Saturday's Long Tour of Bradwell my legs were very tired and achy - simply not doing anything long for many months meant it hurt. A lot.  What I'd not completely worked through in my head was that Saul and me were trying to fit in a Welsh Run in between his work stuff, my work stuff, his childcare, my childcare, annual leave and other halves and the only day we could both do was Monday - two days after.

Saul knows the Welsh 1,000m peaks well and apparently Glyder Fach has recently been reclassified up so it too is now a 1,000m peak. The Welsh 1,000m peaks race does them in a relatively obvious line but we needed to link them up in a day starting and finishing at the same point. Looking at the route with hindsight, I think starting and finishing at the same point adds at least another big climb (we basically climbed the Glyders twice) but makes it a whole deal more simple not having to worry about shuttling cars / logistics.

Route below and thanks again to Saul for putting together a great route. One which I'll probably repeat sometime. Visibility on the tops was poor. Light winds all day with light showers. The descent off Craig Llugwy was iffy (the one in the shot above). We descended too far to the left (we were just enjoying easy running!) and had a big contour. Think we lost a stack of time there. Crib Goch was also a slow option as was Garnedd Ugain on the way to Snowdon Summit, but hey you can't come to Snowdonia without doing Crib Goch !

Starting Nant Peris (far left), going Clockwise

View towards Llyn Bochlwyd from the Gribin Ridge

Long Tour of Bradwell 2013, 33 miles 6300ft, 5h42

Quite easy to see where the 6300ft is made up really...

Really enjoyed this local Fell Ultra last year, so it was always on the calendar for this year. Not that that makes it a 'season long race goal' or owt, it just means a couple of 5 mile races to loosen the legs up might be required.

I don't think I've done anything over 12 miles since Saul n Graham's BGR back in May, but as with all these Ultras - the distance seems to stay in your legs you just need to top the speed up.

Weather on the day was great but I don't know whether it was due to a cold I had or not, but I've never sweated like that before in a race - so I knew topping up on water all day long was absolutely essential. As it happened, a full bottle at each water stop wasn't enough and I had to top up from a tap and a stream too on the route round.

I also tried Torq Sundried Banana Bars * 6 to keep me fuelled up. Sadly, after 2 I couldn't really stomach any more so struggled to get em down. Think I'll stick to the Mars Bars next time.

Pacing was spot on all day - no highs and no lows. Well, Stanage was a low but it always is. Burbage finished me off but it always does and got the right line through Lawrencefield this year. Finished quite well up through Abney too and down and into Bradwell.

Can't argue with 3 mins quicker than last year. Good to see Dan a couple of miles from the end - surprised he even turned up after the L100 a few weeks back! Adam ran well too finishing 6 mins ahead of me - pity he took a wrong turn round Burbage otherwise he'd have been 10mins + up. Conditions were spot on really all day despite me losing several gallons of sweat!

Think I was 12th overall out of about 100 and 3rd V40. A very high quality field it seems

Strava link here
Results here

Chevin Fell Race, Milford 4.5 mile

Short, sharp on one of the hottest evenings of the year.
Was feeling stiff and achy for no real reason and didn't really run that well (nutrition I think with hindsight).
Still a nice evening with Ian and Jack finishing just behind me...
Field seemed a bit thin on the ground - presumably the heat put some off, oh and I think it was Brassington Fell Race too.

BDL Summer League Race, Shipley, 6:20/mile 356ft

Around 2 years ago, this was probably the worst I've ever run, at Shipley.

Put the demons to bed tonight - ran well, felt comfortable and felt better on the second half, finishing 29th out of about 300 I think just behind Matt and just ahead of young Ben. Nice pint at the end in The Royal Oak too, so all in all a good night. 6:20 min/mile pace according to Strava but I reckon it's just under 6:10 min/mile if it's 5.2 miles.