David Staff Memorial Race - 25.11.12

This wasn't originally on my to-do list, but after speaking to Pudsey & Bramleys Danny Hope on Thursday during the Horwich hill sessions and him saying he planned to do it, it got me thinking.
I had originally planned to do the Preston Parkrun first thing Saturday morning, but I stayed true to my roots and avoided it to stay fresh for the race.

I was still a bit unsure whether Id do it when I woke up on Sunday morning. Even though Im still a young'un who "shouldnt be injured at your age", Im struggling with a variety of problems with my knees, calfs, shins and feet, but I felt ok so collected my gear and with a soundtrack of liquid drum and bass music blasting out, I headed the relatively short journey east to Darwen.

It was tipping it down when I arrived, but the weather was kind to us come the start of the race. I managed to catch up with a few friendly faces that you get to know through racing and generally taking part in this marvelous sport.

On the start line I had a quick chat with Danny Hope, and we both agreed that there were a few fast looking young lads. The organiser informed us that it was a record attendance for the race, 184 I think. 

Under starts orders, and off we go. Danny and I led from the off, not going off at a too ridiculous pace, so we had a rather large chasing pack sticking with us all the way out of the woods.

After around a mile we'd managed to pull out a gap on the rest of the field and we continued to pull away up the first short sharp climb up a grassy slope. Things went slightly pair-shaped here, as we lost the route and ended up in a boggy field and we had to climb a barbed wire fence and jump a ditch before climbing up onto the track. We both ran back down the hill and Danny asked the current leader if he had any objections with us rejoining the race, to which he didnt.

So we are back on-track, we've lost the lead we'd worked to gain, and we had to do it again. Worry not. The first "proper" climb went by, taking us to the top and past the tower. Neither of us were particularly fresh from Thursday nights hill session, but we pushed a decent pace and stuck together.

The descent of Aggies Staircase was a bit slippy but nothing to worry about too much. Danny took the lead here and I started to loose him slightly, but managed to pull him back by the top of the climb. I couldnt hold on to him from here. I looked at my watch and we had a mile and a half to go.

      Holding on to Danny - Just.

Danny continued to extend his lead, and I kept falling over. I looked behind and couldnt see anyone, so just concentrated to try and keep a decent pace going and see if I could at least cut down Dannys lead.

Awesome Image by Andy Holden. 

I came in 18 seconds behind Danny, and 3rd place was a little under a minute behind me. After speaking to people at the finish, it sounds like we weren't the only ones who took a wrong turn, as people apparently took alternative routes to the correct race route on the return back to the finish, but thats one of those things.

I bagged a nice 4-pack of Corona for my effort, and enjoyed a nice cup tea with a sausage butty. 

Out in the dark

On Monday after work, I did what tens, if not hundreds of thoasands of people will have done - gone out and trained.

It was either a short 3 miler on the road, or a muddy one with the headtorch. I chose the latter and once Joss was wearing his harness (which I hand-stitched the reflective material from a high-viz jacket) we set off out the door.

A Rather dirty sign, on an extremely tall post...

Ive only posted this because it abit "different".

Joss

Poor timed blink, or a poor timed photo?

 

We ended up doing just over 6 miles across lovely muddy fields, with only maybe half a mile of road in total linking strings of fields together. I only once scared the living daylights out of myself thinking someone was coming up behind me in the dark, only to realise it was just the wind whirling around the winter crops.

Unlike our run on Saturday, we didnt see any deer, but I caught the eyes of a fox shining back from the light of the headtorch, various rabbitsand we startled numberous flocks of sheep. Joss is good with sheep, and I just keep talking to him and he completely ignors them.

I had a bit of foot pain which spoilt the run a bit, but otherwise a fantastic night to be out.

My foot hurts

I dont know whats wrong with my left foot, but it absolutely kills.

It suddenly started hurting walking the dog Sunday night. I went for 6 miler across the fields on Monday night and it was excruciating 

Its the underside of my foot, towards the inside - kind of in between the ball of my foot and the arch. I usually do a gentle-ish 3 miler on the roads on a Wednesday night ahead of the tough hill session Thursday.

Might have to do a session on the turbo-trainer and then stick my foot in a bucket of water for an hour and hope that helps.

These damn little aches and pain. We all get them, but they dont stop being a pain (pun intended).

Dunnerdale Fell Race 2012

This weekend I met up with a large gathering of Preston Harriers, and four car loads of us headed up to the lakes, to an area I’ve never visited before, for the Dunnerdale Fell Race, the final race in the Harriers club championship.

Dunnerdale is regarded as a bit of a classic. In the build up to the race, I spent some time on google, various blogs and the FRA forum, trying to get to grips with what was install, and everyone agrees that the race is a bit special. A mini-lakeland classic one person described it as. 5mi with 1804ft. So it was going to be a good’un.

I wasn’t feeling fantastic Saturday morning, and nearly went back to bed, but I convinced myself to go and warm-up and go from there. There was some debate whether it was “just vest”, but I wussed out and went with a t-shirt under my vest and gloves too boot.

The start was the usual disorder and shouting by the organiser, as we all tried to hold a decent starting position, much too far ahead of the start line. In the end the organiser basically just yelled GO and we were off – legging it down the road.

The route follows the road for what must be near on half a mile, climbing uphill most of the way and eventually leading to a stone track and the climb up the fell. I didn’t really have a plan for the race, so held back a bit when Id usually gun-it from the off.

In the run out, I felt I wasn’t really putting in enough effort so made my way through the field and held about 15^th as we hit the fell. Mike Johnson of Bowland was infront of me, and he went straight into a walk up the hill rather than run, so I followed suite and decided to stick with him. I started to out-climb those around me, and pushed on and gained a few places. Up to the first checkpoint of “The Knott” there was a lot of swapping of places and apart from the front 4 who had pulled out a big lead, the “chasing pack” still consisted of around 20 runners. By the time we got to CP 2, I was 7^th, chasing Iain Ridgeway of Eyri. I was starting to feel it from here, and my arms were bursting with lactic acid and the mind games started. I managed to pass Iain and Hugh (surname escapes me) of Ambleside on the descent, but dropped back to 6^th just before the road crossing as Mark Roberts of Borrowdale flew past me on a mission.

The climb up the Stickle Pike was short, sharp and steep. A quick hailstorm shower trashed it down just before I hit the summit too, and with my body in oxygen-debt, I asked the marshals where to go and dropped off the summit starting to feel pretty crap.

I could hear Iain and Hugh pulling my in, and they passed me on the boggy trod leading onto the final summit.

The descent off Great Stickle was flagged, all the way to the finish actually. It was quite loose under-foot and I started to catch Iain. As we hit the track at the bottom, I knew we had a mile to go and I needed to push to hold my position. Catching Iain was out of the question as I wanted to vomit. Richard Melon of Bowland was coming!!!! I know this guy is a good runner, but Ive never raced him before and to beat him would be a big confidence boost. So I fought hard and made it to the road still in position, climbed the uphill track and with one final push (and a big retch) I crossed the line in 8^th position.

The pie back in the hall was worth it all. Absolutely sensational! I took a while to recover and feel normal, but had a nice chat with a few of the guys who finished around me, and got dressed and dry.

Certainly a race you’ve got to do if you haven’t. One I think I’ll have to revisit as I think I could knock some time off if I was really on form. 

No pictures yet, but I’ll upload them if any appear online.

1^st: Carl Bell – Howgill Harriers - 41:48

8^th – Me - 44:23

243 finishers.

Strange things happen to running shoes...

...when you leave them out in the cold...