Woooo!

That’s the sound of someone who’s just completed their first ultra! (Martyn obviously...)

The day started early with the alarm going off at 5 as I had to drive from Chester over to Osmotherley. By the time the race started at 9 I had already discovered how friendly the ultra-running community is - good luck preparing for the Hardmoors 110 Henry!

Heat had been a worry beforehand but it turned out to be fairly comfortable (although the fact I took on about 3.5l of fluid without having to run into the bushes might tell a different story). A few miles in it was clear that this was going to be a lot hillier than anything I’d ever done before. Thankfully I didn’t need to swallow my pride too much as there was a lot of vigorous walking going on, presumably the leaders were already over the hills and far away by that stage.

Having initially taken the ‘purist’ route up Cringle Moor and looked down on thousands (ok, maybe tens) of runners go past I thought I’d play it safe and just try and run with people who looked like they knew what they were doing...

Actually the first 13 miles or so of the course were relatively straightforward as it mainly followed the Cleveland Way, a nice, well marked trail. It was once we went down to Chop Gate that my lack of map reading skills became apparent. Fortunately I ended up running with Nick whose answer to “Have you done many of these before?” was a confidence giving “Hundreds.”! Together we covered around about 5 miles before I felt good enough to pick up the pace a bit.

This proved to be about half a mile too soon as I promptly went wrong at the first opportunity and ended up going a mile down hill before realising my error. That was probably the low point of the entire day although I’m sure the climb back up the hill will have taught me a valuable lesson for future races.

After that it was a fairly comfortable slow run back into Osmotherley where the summer games were in full swing. Unfortunately I had just missed the welly tossing competition but got to meet up with Mark (who had some pitiful excuse about a chest infection preventing him from running) and Martin who had finished an impressive 3^rd and looked coolness personified sporting the Runfurther buff...

All in all I had a great day, no cramp (a first for any marathon) and got to eat lots of food at the checkpoints. What’s not to like?! Can’t wait for the Long Tour of Bradwell!