Sunday 23 May 2010

Two more under the belt

The fellsman
It seems an age since the Fellsman. Perhaps I have been trying to forget it. I have this feeling that annual fellsman outings are going to haunt my future running activities as both this year's and last's were tending towards the disasterous.
I went into it having shaken off the cold and the injury problems that had dogged me on and off since the start of February but conscious that I was probably still some way short of fit (but hoping that I was not). The ascent of Ingleborough soon gave the answer to this. I was slow, about 5 minutes slower than last year. This set a pattern for the rest of the run. I was not too bad on the flat and downhill but I was struggling uphill. That said, I had set myself a modest schedule based on about 18 hours overall and I was pretty much on it as far as Stonehouse and feeling not too bad. But the long grind up the track and then up Great Knoutberry left me in no doubt that it was going to be a long slow haul to the finish. But, a good section after that - not too many hills for a fair way and I started to feel Ok again and I was still running. The route from Redshaws to Snaizeholme must be about the easiest for route finding on the whole course - Follow the fence - but the group some way ahead of us were lured away by the good track going straight ahead where the fence turns left. We were a group of 4 at this stage but despite our efforts we were unable to get them to hear us, though we did see some time later that they had realised their mistake.
Up over Dodd Fell and down to Fleet Moss without problems (it was here I had gone wrong last year not before Redshaws as I said in an earlier posting)and so to grouping. Before starting I had decided to take the long way round Fleet Moss to avoid the experience of last year but I was readily persuaded by the others to head straight across as everything had been so dry up to this point. And indeed it was a correct decision, completely unrecogniseable from last year and bouncing along on the top of the bog. In some respects we were not a well matched group. I was distinctly the slowest up the hills but wanting to push ahead on the flat and downhills. But still we got on well together and enjoyed the run.
Somehwre on this section, after it got dark, I tripped and fell. As I went down I thought its OK, I could see I was going to land on grass but then there was a very hard impact on my forehead. my first thoughts were 'I have hit a rock, what damage have I done'? But on checking it was only the impact of my light (which had hit the ground first)on my head. A few minutes later I noticed I had a nose bleed (more of this later).

No more problems until coming off Buckden Pike. We found the gate OK but then went on down much too far. I was a bit twitchy about it because I had checked the timing at the gate but one of the group had recce'd it and was confident (I have done the same myself so should have knowwn better). This resulted in a lot of extra height gain to climb back up to the Top Mere checkpoint. By this stage my legs were completely finished as soon as I came to any rise. Great Whernside was a real struggle and I only got up by virtue of the constant support of one of the group. Wish I could remember who was who but there names are in the results with the same time as me. Nothing of note after that we plodded gently on and even walked the leg down from Yarnbury so as to keep together. On the positive side it was about 45 minutes faster than last year - but only because not so much time was lost due to route errors!

Now , back to the nose. I found it a little odd that at all the checkpoints after the fall staff kept asking if i had had first aid for my nose - it was after all only a nose bleeed. It was the same story at the finish until I looked in the mirror to see quite a significant cut running down from the bridge of my nose. As far as I can work out, when my light hit the ground it pushed my glasses down my nose with the bridge of the glasses excavating quite a deep scoop as it went down. So a quick shower then first aid (who said it was the second such injury they had had) and off to a very much appreciated breakfast followed by sleep.

One year I will run a good Fellsman.

Marlborough Downs Challenge
A really good race this which many of the usual suspects from further north miss out on as it is so far away from home. And excellent weather also. For just a week after the Fellsman I had a good run last year and an even better one this. It was my first run for a long time when I felt throughout that I was doing OK. It is a relatively fast course, no really big hills but quite a few middling ones as it works its way up and down the Downs. I think the Fellsman had done some good for my legs and this, combined with the modest gradients, left me running nearly all the hills except the two short steep climbs near the start and the very last hill. I am sure there were odd bits in between but not many. So I just ran and ran, trying to keep a steady modest pace and largely succeeding. As usual I had a timing schedule but unusually this time found myself ahead of it for much of the way and just dropping of it due to a five minute route error (missed a turn by following the person in front). My wife has a relative near Swindon about 15 miles away from Marlborough so she had come down with me and we stayed there. An interesting stay in a self-built eco house and very enjoyable too, thank you for having us Lysana. It also meant I got some support and was supplied with a banana as I ran through the churchyard at Avebury. Didn't need anything else as there was plenty of water at the checkpoints. Eventually finished in 6 hours 5 minutes and 34 seconds about 17 minutes faster than last year but rather annoyed that I had lost the estimated 5 minutes due to the route error. Could I have got under 6 hours? And no excuses because we had a very detailed and accurate route description provided by the organisers. Still, 5 minutes plus over 6 hours is probably better than 30 seconds over! A quick meal and into the excellent showers and ready to get back to Lysana's. But before the start I had met up with a guy I had run part of the Wuthering Hike with. He came back in and said there was a woman outside looking for me to give me the O60 prize! A sure sign all the decent runners had stayed at home. My first age category win since I moved away from road to trail and a very nice oval ceramic plate it was as well.

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