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.

Peak Epic Sportive, 4,000m / 12,800ft, 3rd

Starting / Finishing Bakewell (bottom right) anticlockwise encompassing most peak district climbs!

I entered this one as I enjoy climbing on my bike. At 4,000m of climb, Peak Epic is up there with the hilliest 100 milers in the country. No specific training and probably 6 years since I did my only other sportive so I was unsure of how fast people would be riding. At the start I was mindful that getting in with a group would be good both for motivation and pace.

Gloomy skies, rain for the first 5 hours and almost dangerous gusts of wind up on the Cat n Fiddle road, this ride could have been a complete nightmare. Thankfully, my legs were going very well all day, thanks mainly due to the very well stocked food points - stocking Torq gels and bars which I love. Rode most of the rise solo really and felt strong at the finish finishing in 7h35.

Having done both the Fred Whitton and this, I think Fred Whitton has got the harder climbs (well, Hard Knott really!) but this is just constant climbing - virtually all on small unclassified roads so the road surfaces here are poorer and slower.

A great event that I'd recommend - well signed and great food stops!

Results here
Strava link here

Mountain Mayhem 2013, Gatcombe Park

This was my first Mountain Mayhem and the first at this new venue. Overall, it was a great weekend - the weather wasn't bad, the company was good and the course was ok.

Putting on a course for 1000's of people to ride continually over 24hours is hard - unless it's a trail centre type surface, it's never gonna hold up under poor weather.

There's been lots of debate over on the STW Forum in the days since with people saying that there was ;

* Not enough Singletrack
* Not enough techy stuff
* Too many hard climbs

but for me, it was a course you could race hard, there was lots of chances to overtake, some bits which required thought and the climbs were great! The red bull timed section was the icing on the cake. Night laps too were an absolute pleasure as they were a few years back at Newcastleton 24. The course takes on a tranquil air that I really enjoy. Perhaps next year, they could make a few of the longer sections more all weather somehow ?

Results here for Sports Mixed with my times between 44 mins and 53 mins.

BDL Summer League Race, Denby 6:05/mile 234ft

For the first time ever, I (almost) enjoyed a road race!  Set off slower again, then picked it up slowly in the second half. Well, I didn't really pick it up, just didn't slow down. 25th out of 275. 6:05/mile

Full results here
Strava link here

Tansley Fell Race 2013

Perfect weather this year - stark contrast to last year's torrential downpours.  Really enjoyed this one again.

I'd ran Dave Denton's Shining Cliffs race on Sunday and I felt dreadful whilst running - legs empty, just wanting the ground to swallow me up. Sure we've all been there?? No blog post on that one as I didn't even count it as a race in the end in my head. I almost ended up walking on lap 2 of it !

Anyway, it was important that after Sunday's dismal race, I'd have a more positive race tonight. There were times on Sunday that I was thinking in my head that I'd give up racing as I clearly wasn't enjoying it any more! 

Thankfully - tonight, I corrected what went wrong on Sunday. I set off slow and got faster. Sunday I set off way too fast and just regretted every minute of the race from 10 mins in. I was clinging on but more than normal - too much.

Setting off steady worked. I was very comfortable up the first big climb until it flattened out and then steepened again - I carried on steady there too. Completely out of character as I can only normally do flatout uphills - but good. After hammering it last year after the stream crossing (as I wrongly thought we were near the top !) I just went steady and as it happened took the guy in front, concentrating on making up time / ground on the flat road section ahead. Yes, the road section was a little bit disappointing as I made up perhaps 5m on the guy in front after perhaps 1 mile so nothing spectacular really but going into the final descent I still felt comfortable. Holding off the guy behind I didn't lose or gain any places on the descent so was kinda pleased. 

The really surprising this is though that last year I thought I was in reasonable shape, running in 30m12. This year turns out I ran 29m12 - 1 minute faster. Yes, conditions were faster but I really can't believe conditions were 1 minute faster ? 9th out of 83. Results here

Saul, Bob, Graham : 45 miles, 4400m, 16 hours!

About 5am, Blencathra. Getting the smiling out the way whilst they still can!

Saul had been planning this religiously for months. And months. Probably years knowing him.

Saul and Graham have been my main running partners over the last 5 years. Most of my epics over the years have had one or both of these guys at the middle of them. We've done Knoydart, we've done Elite Mountain Marathons. We've done many, many freezing cold winter crossings of Kinder Scout and we've done my Bob Graham. We're all there or thereabouts in our ability too (well, if Graham's having an off day!) so I wasn't going to miss out on this one hence we'd had this in the family diary for months too firmly inked in.

I kinda wished that Saul, Graham and me had all done our BG's at the same time (last year) but the practicalities of that are always gonna be hard and I just couldn't wait. Anyway, the more excuses for trips to the lakes, the better! Original plan from about Jan onwards was for Saul and Graham to both do their BG's on the same day, but with work commitments for Graham taking a recent upturn then he's had to shelve his running training. So much so that his reccie with Saul a fortnight ago saw him struggling to get round even just leg 1.

Nevertheless, Graham wasn't going to miss out on helping Saul all he could so we assembled a small team of around 4-8 of us and headed up Saturday ready for the off at 3am Sunday. I took over at Dunmail as Saul's sole support runner which was fine - I knew the route well and looked forward to Saul's better line than mine to Bowfell and off it plus the West Wall Traverse to Scafell. Well, I was meant to be sole support but Graham was enjoying the perfect weather that much and his legs felt not too shabby so he thought he'd get to Wasdale too and see how things were going. I think it was about 7 hours to Dunmail so it wasn't slow and I told Saul there and then that I thought he'd gone off to fast and had better take care. 

The climb up Steel Fell saw Saul at a low point far sooner than I'd hoped. Positive words, patience and me taking his bumbag from him saw him getting back on track by Seargent Man. This legs a killer though, so Graham and me were slightly concerned at the enormity of what lat ahead and how Saul was still not talking utter drivel as per usual. Verbal diarrhoea was back on the cards by Thurnacar Knott which was a relief for Graham and me as much as it was for Saul I'm sure !

Lines were all really good through to Scafell Pike which was covered in tourists tottering around on the boulder fields whilst we skipped past. I really enjoyed Lords Rake which was still deep in snow and all new to me. We thought the snow made it easier than the scree would have been and soon popped out about 200m from the summit of Scafell. Again, the descent line was far better than mine last year, but more importantly felt way easier on the feet despite me having a bad blister this time - I remember mine being very painful last September.

Wasdale was a pleasure. A slow one. It was great meeting Andy and Trev in the late afternoon sunshine with I think 2-3 stoves on the go and a food choice which virtually brought tears to my eyes! Saul and Graham relished a proper top up on reserves though and spent 20+ minutes drinking, slurping and chewing through masses and masses of grub.

Graham's legs were still functioning and hence it was looking more now like a double Bob Graham attempt. Yet again, the climb out of the road saw Saul at another very low point. Not the ideal time either - possibly the hardest climb on the whole round : Yewbarrow. He got it together again though just before the summit and from then on did very well throughout leg 4. By the time we'd gotten past Gable, the sun was low and the wind had picked up substantially. I knew Saul struggled with cold hands so I lent him my windproof gloves knowing that when he arrived at Honister he'd need to focus on food and not warming his hands up.

Anyway, I'd legged it down to Honister so they could get the stoves on. Graham got there 5 mins later but we still couldn't see Saul. It turned out he'd slid on his arse into a grassy gully and just fell asleep there! Semi counscious he made it to the car but we knew he was in a bad way when he arrived, struggling to stand up straight. We forced hot food down him and I told him to grab a quick 10 mins kip in the car as sitting outside was absolutely freezing by now.

Graham still managing a smile at Honister, shortly before realising it was absolutely
bloody freezing once you'd stopped running! 

Trev set off with Saul up Dale Head and Graham and me followed after he'd got his top to toe windproofs on. Thankfully, Saul had picked up once again and peaks 40,41 and 42 were despatched with relative ease - passing the "Ian Hays Slabs of Death" on the descent from the final peak to the road. Saul was now proper struggling with pain in his feet and hence descents and flats were hard to run - climbs he seemed to manage! After about 22hours and 45 mins for them (16 hours for me!) we arrived back at Keswick Moot Hall with a double Bob Graham Belper Harriers completion on our hands - Saul showing enormous personal determination to put his body through complete turmoil several times and Graham playing it relatively cool not having hardly run in the last few months! Both impressive but in their own ways.

All this on top of a weekend that saw Krish attempt a Skye Cuillin traverse (aborted due to weather) and Ian complete his London to Brighton run too.

Great training for me though, carrying lots of food and water and legs feeling comfortable all the way round. Pleased, perhaps even wetting my appetite again !

Saul's write up here

Saul, me and Graham on Pike o Stickle, Langdales

"The full works please" : At Wasdale - Thanks to Andy Rose

Skirting Yewbarrow Sunday teatime, Red Pike looming in front