Just run what could possibly be the last competitive run of the year and it was bad. I wasn’t very tuned into doing this one. This last year has mainly been dedicated to long distance off-road. I wanted to sample that kind of running. Job done and I thoroughly enjoyed the year. My overall running improved over most distances. Including the short distance track training sessions. This is why I was disappointed with a lackluster performance at a local 10k. It hurt more because I was racing with 4 other club members. 1 of which I should have at least gone over the finish-line with. The others are just too fast. As it was, I was 34 seconds down on him. Next year I’ll fix that. Most of my year’s long distance running is non-competitive, because I put most of the miles in with just me and the dog – with some distant distance goal in mind. The dog can run my legs off at the twitch of her tail - so no competition there then. I have to admit though, I have a competitive streak which ‘streaks’ more during shorter races. This is now the dilemma, to know how fast you can run any distance - you have to train for the distance or even the type of surface you want to race on. If I decide to run more Ultras this year, (Which I want to do) then I’ll not be thinking shorter distance speed - so won’t be as fast as I could be. Maybe the simple solution is forget about short distance racing, unless I’m prepared to forget about Ultras even marathons! Who knows, maybe circumstances will dictate what distance and type of running I can do in the future, so I may get a crack at becoming competitive over the shorter distance yet. Short distance would be fairer to the family because far less time is needed for training. But how I would miss those Welsh hills.

A 'little break' fishing for Scottish Salmon

Just returned from a nice break. the last day of the season Salmon fishing on the River Tweed in Ashiestiel in the heart of the Scottish Borders. The drive up from N.Wales was wet all the way to Newcastle 250 miles of heavy rain. Never mind, I thought the fish won't mind a bit of wet. So, fed and 'fine wined' at my brother's house in Newcastle and up at 5.00am. On the road to Scotland by 6. The lower Scottish landscape looks like great off-road running country, the Cheviot Hills were all snowed over looking like 'Iced buns' in the morning light. Made a mental note to see what events happen in this area, anyway enough about running.


Ashiestiel - River Tweed in summer conditions.

The fishing conditions were excellent, the river was running clear and not too deep considering the recent rainfall. Wild Salmon are fickle creatures, I am told you can fish a Scottish Salmon river for 10 years and never catch a fish. And that's not because they're not in the rivers, I saw at least 4 beauties jump clear out of the river, a stunning sight and no further than a few yards away. Some days they can be there but they're taking the p***! not your fly! I'm lucky though, I caught my first Salmon on the Tweed on my first day's Salmon fishing whilst learning to cast the fly properly, it was may be my 2nd or 3rd cast - easy this (I thought). To add to that, I caught another the very next day on a different stretch of the river. Since then nothing. Including yesterday. I had a great day though, and especially enjoyed lunch - my brother had packed a bottle of fizz and a bottle of Slow Gin to make some kind of strange shandy ( I forget the name ) The stuff washed down nice cheeses and his special hot Pork and Venison sausages - Just the job when you've been standing in a freezing Scottish River all morning. The 'little break' though, was the end section of my £600 Sage carbon fibre Salmon rod, It snapped for no reason during a cast and flew into the river like a spear! still no fish though! Not to worry - it can be repaired, it's just a question of how much dosh. So, a couple of days perusing another interest, and catching up with family. Total non-running, but somehow I think I'll run better for it next time out.

Ok - Time to start thinking 010

Next year's running plans are affected, My sentence of 6 years or so hard labour on home improvements is affected and work will be affected a little. In the past I've fallen out of trees, I've played Rugby Union as a prop way under weight for the position, I've Rock and Ice climbed - taking two falls over 12 years (1 4o footer and decked out) I've fallen off mountain bikes and wiped out skiing more times than I can remember and pretty much got away without serious injury. Running (I thought) was sedate in comparison to some of these things. So it was irritating to say the least to be diagnosed with a extruded disc at the C7 area. Also my surgeon says it can't be fixed without invasive surgery. The 'pins and needles' down my left arm I'd been experiencing was due to a root nerve being compressed by the damaged disc. So decision to be made on when to have the op? Soon as possible in the new year I thought so as not disrupt life too much. I had a cold that lasted over 30 days at the beginning of last year yet still had my best year's running so far. January 12th 2010 I'll have the op (unless I'm advised against it). I'm still to talk to some people about that. I've decided to treat it as 'routine maintenance'. Oh and how did it happen? sitting on my backside at a desk - the irony. I'm still running at the moment and have a couple of short distance races to do before the op. First one is 9th December a local 10k - I've only run one in my first year of running at about 46min 20sec. Looking to PB that. So, I'm finding it difficult to plan next year at the moment, but will be doing a couple of Ultras and a couple of marathons amongst other stuff.

Snowdon 2009 - PB time!

Vince - my training partner for the HP-40. He knackered his achilles and couldn't do it or Snowdon - But he was still up there shouting me on!


Third time and 4th Marathon. Prepared on the back of a loose conversation with the mighty T-Rex'(Vegetarian?) Why do I die on Waunfawr Hill? Answer - It comes at 22 miles when you've been pushing hard?, or you haven't eaten correctly?, or you're completely psyched out?, or you ain't got the hill miles in you're legs sonny?, or...or...or? Whatever the reason all you can do is try something different the next time. So it was that I sat in the bar of a Llanberis pub indulging in some post race analysis with T'Rex and Collie Dave of the RW Snowdon forum. Mr. Rex convinced me that all I needed to do was do a couple Ultras during 09 and get the legs sorted for hills. At the time I thought I'd done enough climbing work although only short distances. So the day came with two Ultras under the belt and the miles from the long days out during the training up to them. I didn't do too much in the 4 or 5 week gap between HP-40 and Snowdon. I did however put a few track sessions in and 1 x 16m road session the week before Snowdon itself. I needed to get use to road shoes! The plan was to rely on the hill miles and distance I'd already put in up to HP-40 staying in my legs - and run Snowdon fairly rested. I traveled to the race on my own this year which allowed me to get ready at my own pace, Which in turn ensured I'd be late. The weather on the day was pretty much as it has been each time I've done it. Grim. Still, this brings with it a certain challenging atmosphere which ads to the experience. I set off steady not wanting a repeat performance of last year's disastrous start. The steady climb out of the pass was controlled. It was a relief to reach the top with breath to spare. The wind was directly behind and made running the decent side of Llanberis pass great fun - with long strides being made easy. At the bottom where you make an about turn directly into the wind the stride became shorter! I found a nice pace and stuck to it enjoying the weather and feeling good. Before I knew it I was climbing out of Beddgelert and was heading up the middle climb. The freshness had worn off by now and it was time to do some work. I wanted as much time under the belt as possible for Waunfawr Hill. Upon reaching the hill I won the first mental battle and didn't stop on the approach to the right turn that puts you on the narrow lane which takes you to the top. A few hundred yards along that lane I decided that I'd walk just the steepest crests in the road and run everything else. The trade off would be getting to the off-road section with strong enough legs to make up any lost time. The plan worked. Once I reached the off-road section I was away passing runner's who were struggling with muddy decent and foul weather. During the decent I knew I was on a PB and it was just a matter of how much by. I even found strength to push on around the back lane and then to sprint finish to nick a place or two at the line. I knocked 16 minutes off last year's time with a Marathon PB of 3hr 49min 20sec-ish which was beyond my expectations by some way. This was a great result for me and a great end to my long race season.

HP 40

Mam Tor from Castleton

OK the run up to the HP 40 was enjoyable, running was good, health was good. The day came soon enough. It was a bit of a fiddle driving from N.Wales to Buxton Derbyshire for the start and typically arrived a bit late. Registered and changed in a flash and next thing I knew we were cheerfully snaking out of Buxton's streets and onto the first section across open ground and off towards the Goyt valley. I decided I was not going to get into too much passing the time of day chatting with fellow runners and got on with the job of trying to settle into a sustainable pace. I had 8 and half hours of running in my mind. The early autumn cool came to an end with the first serious bit of climbing up out of Chinley and up onto the hills. In fact, it got quite warm. It was about time for my newly tried and trusted feed plan. 1 peanut butter sandwich every 2 hours and 1 gel an hour after that. The first sandwich went down on the hoof without too much fuss. in fact it tasted ok. Climbing the rutted, grit stone strewn track up to Mam Tor was interesting running, made the more interesting by the descending mountain bikers. Grim faced and 'get the hell out of my way' stares from most of them. Soon I was running the ridge and enjoying the cooling breeze and views towards Edale. Soon after Hollins Cross it was time to descend and head towards Cavedale and on towards 'Somewhere-elsedale' Must have been about 5 or 6 hours in the bag by then. Started feeling the sun by then on a tarmac section into Monsal head. Got chatting to a guy who was feeling the distance a little i ran with him for a couple of miles offering a little encouragement where I could, it was here that I got lost (lack of concentration) I ran around an unsheduled lake for a while before correcting the error and running back on track. I decided to leave the guy here and pick up the pace for a while. Run steady up until the long road section at about 30 miles, this was tough, stomach sickness was creeping in, I lost a lot of time on this section. Once on the grass again I cheered up and tried to perk up for finish. Through Deepdale 2 (Strange gash in the fields - comes from nowhere just when you don't need it!) and past the last checkpoint without stopping. I could see the church towers of Buxton now. Once again had to stop with a stone in the shoe which I had to remove. Bending to do this was a chore because a 'trapped nerve' in my upper back that made bending uncomfortable. I pushed on with one or two runners who'd been around my position over the last 10 miles. There was no speaking, just grinding out the last few miles. I caught a young guy who looked fresh enough to me. he was wearing some technology so I asked him how far to the finish - 2 miles. A quick check of the watch told me I'd need to put in 2 8 minute miles to hit 8hours. I tried to drag the guy along but he'd had enough. I ran up the ramp to the finish table flat out and finished 8hrs 20secs. So I didn't go sub8 - ask me if I care! A great day out was had and once I got my breath back I felt great. 40m in the bag.

Two months later High Peak 40

So, did some stuff over the next two months or so, all off road running. Got back to Club nights at the track too. This was to get some speed work done prior to Snowdon marathon 09 due in October (Last weekend in real time) It was during these sessions that I tempted Vince to do the HP-40 with me. A few training sessions with him later I decided that I wouldn't be doing it with him, but some way behind him! he was running well. He had a target set in his mind of 6hrs 30min which would have put him in the top 10 area. Looking at some of the running he was doing in our training jaunts, I wasn't doubting him.

Meanwhile back at the track, things were getting better for me, I was getting quicker over the short distances yet my weekend long slow ones were feeling good. Track work really pays. In august I was out on hill session with Dot, Had 25m planned over a lot of climbing approx 3,500 ft. The weather was threatening from the outset, 15m from home I could see the squalls storming in from the West and the direction of Snowdonia. When they hit, they hit with a chill. Dot was feeling the wind that day, I could tell because she'd use the deep heather as a wind break whenever it gusted. I decided 20m was enough and dropped down from the hill to an old village named Cilcain. There was a big banner spanning the narrow road advertising their summer fete (Which included a Mountain Race from the village to the summit of Moel Famau via a route I didn't know http://cilcaintoday.delfryndesign.co.uk/page27.htm too well. I thought no more of it and organised a lift home for me and the pooch forthwith. that night I decided to tuck into a nice bottle of red wine, even nicer when you know you've got 20 hard gained miles in your legs.


Next morning I was up and without thinking, sorted my kit out for the race, penance for giving in to the weather and for greedily guzzling a bottle of red. At the village there was a carnival atmosphere, with crowds of runners milling about prior to the start. I came across my niece who was wearing stilts! Bizzar! - I was glad to see she hadn't entered the race. The race was brutal affair 4m ish 1200 ft straight from the village to the top of Moel Famau and straight down again. I ran it ok, (43min 17sec) but felt the climbing on used legs, also if you were stuck behind someone slow on narrow sections you couldn't pass them. Managed a good strong decent though, passing many competitors who'd climbed better than me, but didn't have down-hill legs at all. After the race I bumped into an old friend of mine in the village pub The White Horse and sank a few ales in the pleasant afternoon sun. That wasn't a bad weekend, some decent running, friends and a few beers. tbc.

Now then where was I....?

View North from Carlton Bank

For some reason I stopped posting, don't know why really? I guess I wasn't sure how my running was going at the time - plus outside influences, mainly troublesome teenagers and the ever draining work needed to finish my house. All very demanding. I've come to the end of my mentally set running calender. Last week Snowdon Marathon 09 was the mark. Somehow though, this year, I'm feeling like I've got more running to do. So I'm going to do some!

Since last posting back in April!!! I've achieved things that there is no way I thought I was capable of. I'll have to check back and see where i was, but no doubt I was training for Osmotherley Phoenix Ultra my first Ultra. The training up to it went well, Dot (my little Jack Russel) and I out most weekends on long hill runs anything up to 4 hours in mostly wet hill weather. I think the longest she run was a 30 miler - fair play. Anyway race day came in July, I took the long journey up to the North Yorkshire Moors on my own. It seemed 'wrong' not taking my little hound with me. On that morning she was up for it - tail wagging, I had to leave her wondering why the hell she'd done all that training???

Anyway I ran the race on my own as my training partner pulled out with an ankle injury etc so on my own I set about my first Ultra. The first 12 miles were ok, but little did I know the sun was taking t out of me, by mile 15 with 18 to go it started to feel like a run. I got to mile 25 (the last checkpoint) in good time 5hrs 8mins or so. Shortly after that the wheels came off as they say. These last 7-8 miles is where you find out what you're made of. There was no way I was going to DNF, so I slowed down to cope with the horrible effects of dehydration and fatigue. This got me to the finish and my first Ultra done in 7hrs 6mins. I'll be back for this one. The course was brilliant, great running and great scenery. The atmosphere back in the village was brilliant, welly throwing and beer in the afternoon sun. I hung around and sampled a well earned beer. (not before a couple of cups of tea though!) It took 12 hours for me to recover from this one - drinking 12 litres of fluid that day! Within a few days I decided I couldn't leave my first Ultra performance at that and signed up for the High Peak 40. tbc.