Two down, two to go… in my head I’ve now entered the seasoned fell runner bracket! Seriously though, I learnt a lot from the Long Tour of Bradwell, easily summarised by ‘ultras are tough’. Surprising eh?!
The weekend started off at Edale where I met up with the other members of Team Runfurther and quickly forgot the ominous struggles my car had just getting up the hill there. We spent a few hours checking out the Kinder part of the course and posing with sponsored kit. The scenery was breathtaking prompting Martin B’s rueful comment that it’s a shame he doesn’t have time to take it in when he’s racing. I suggested he ran at my pace which would allow him to enjoy each blade of grass, “there’ll be plenty of time for that when I’m 70” was the response!
After Osmotherley I felt really good and thought I’d take it out a little harder this time. In retrospect this was a mistake. My troubles began once I’d left the Druid Stone behind and started the steep descent where my toes began to hit the front of the shoes in a rather painful manner. Then going up Lose Hill, cramp began to set in (note to self, spend more time on step machines) which then came back frequently, set off by anything from tough stiles to dense heather. After some helpful guidance by fellow runners pointing out checkpoint 13 which was located down a slope above a river (the organisers had more faith in my balance after 23 miles than I did) I slowly and painfully made my way back to Bradwell, eventually clocking a disappointing time of 8:30.
Needless to say within minutes of finishing I was already thinking “that wasn’t so bad” and was pretty proud of myself for actually finishing the toughest race I had ever done. Just to make sure that it was the race that was tough and not just my lack of conditioning I had a confidence boosting 10 mile race last Sunday at Great Warford where I got a new pb of 1:12:22 - it felt pretty good after going so slowly the previous week however I’m paying for it now with extremely tight calves and general aches caused by road running again.
Next up is the High Peak 40 so I’ll be getting to know this beautiful area of the world even better. I’ve got a few weeks to prepare so am planning on getting in plenty of miles and spending time on the aforementioned step machine… hope my work isn’t expecting too much of me!
The weekend started off at Edale where I met up with the other members of Team Runfurther and quickly forgot the ominous struggles my car had just getting up the hill there. We spent a few hours checking out the Kinder part of the course and posing with sponsored kit. The scenery was breathtaking prompting Martin B’s rueful comment that it’s a shame he doesn’t have time to take it in when he’s racing. I suggested he ran at my pace which would allow him to enjoy each blade of grass, “there’ll be plenty of time for that when I’m 70” was the response!
After Osmotherley I felt really good and thought I’d take it out a little harder this time. In retrospect this was a mistake. My troubles began once I’d left the Druid Stone behind and started the steep descent where my toes began to hit the front of the shoes in a rather painful manner. Then going up Lose Hill, cramp began to set in (note to self, spend more time on step machines) which then came back frequently, set off by anything from tough stiles to dense heather. After some helpful guidance by fellow runners pointing out checkpoint 13 which was located down a slope above a river (the organisers had more faith in my balance after 23 miles than I did) I slowly and painfully made my way back to Bradwell, eventually clocking a disappointing time of 8:30.
Needless to say within minutes of finishing I was already thinking “that wasn’t so bad” and was pretty proud of myself for actually finishing the toughest race I had ever done. Just to make sure that it was the race that was tough and not just my lack of conditioning I had a confidence boosting 10 mile race last Sunday at Great Warford where I got a new pb of 1:12:22 - it felt pretty good after going so slowly the previous week however I’m paying for it now with extremely tight calves and general aches caused by road running again.
Next up is the High Peak 40 so I’ll be getting to know this beautiful area of the world even better. I’ve got a few weeks to prepare so am planning on getting in plenty of miles and spending time on the aforementioned step machine… hope my work isn’t expecting too much of me!
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