16th November: CTS Gower

Now we're safely in to November, the Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series is back in full swing, so with their 2nd leg of 10 happening it was a drive down to the Gower for me and the latest in the litany of marathons I have behind me.

Rhossili on the Gower peninsular was the venue once more, so I drove down the night before and made camp in the back of the van, mercifully in an area free of doggers!

Funky cloud formations, If I was in Hicksville USA I'd be claiming UFO's

All rested I woke as the sun began to rise, revealing some bizarre clouds hanging over the sea beside me. Admiring the calm of the seas and the slight surf that looked promising for the local surfing community, I walked the half mile off to the event base of the Rhossili Bunk House and duly registered, taking my competitor’s shirt for the event in a ladies small as I had promised my eldest daughter one for her to run in.

Early morning surf.

I knew that Barry Miller was due to be running today having become a proud holder of the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning having successfully completed the 4x100 mile qualifying races over the course of the summer - completing 1 race of that length is phenomenal, completing 4 over the course of a couple of months on a different continent is something else, and to further put this into perspective, only 14 people achieved the grand slam, and of the 14 Barry was the only one not to be an American!.. Barry was running today along with his other half Kirstin in the half as a build-up to her tilt at the Portsmouth Coastal marathon in December, and fellow Real Relay alumnus from the leg before mine, Stuart March, was also supposed to be giving it a go but decided to drop through illness so came along to support the others anyway.

The calm before the storm.

After the briefing we mustered at the start and headed off on to the loop out from the Rhossili Bunk House round to the headland where we had parked. This initial descent down on to the cliff-top path was through some seriously muddy fields, and just as I built-up some good pace on the descent passing a good chunk of fellow runners, that was until I lost my trainer twice in the space of a couple of minutes. I had no choice but to embrace the joy of walking through mud with one sock clad foot, feeling it all squelching up between my toes as I located my shoe, then savoured putting a soaking cold muddy sock in to the trainer and hope that I would not be chaffing as the mud dried out through the heat of my feet as the race continued over the next few hours.

Returning to the car park.

In putting my trainers on I had slipped quite a way down the pack and soon after re-starting I suddenly felt flat and lethargic as soon as the trail took a turn for a slight incline… I just could not build any rhythm as I ran and the sweats from the Rivington marathon returned, making me feel very disheartened with what I had experienced on that run. I had hoped I was over the illness - I was no longer ‘ill’ as such, but I had not run a step since Rivington and I had not appreciated what the bout of flu had taken out of me. This was compounded as more and more people made their way past me, pushing me further back down the field to near the back… Before losing my shoe a second time.

Hitting the hills.

As we arrived back at the car park we diverted up on to the hills that overlook the village and ran the ridge overlooking Rhossili Bay with some early morning surfers out enjoying the waves.

I was looking forward to the descent at the end of this section to the first check point: a very steep grassy downhill pock-marked with boulders. I did leapfrog a few people here who were carefully picking their way down the slope as I steamed past them to their amazement!

Heading out to the beach.

Follow the chevrons.

Once through the checkpoint we turned on to the first beach section of the day; picking our way through the pebbles to find the flat stretch of hard-packed sand and the mile journey to the other end of the beach.

The first of the day's beaches.

Safely across the unrelenting sandy surface we turned inland and slowly made our way up the big-arsed hill from another caravan park and on to the moor for the inland leg of the race that makes about a 1/3 of the distance. Here I caught up with a fellow marathoner who was dropping back through the field so was able to chat for a while as we crossed paths. He had also run the Rivington Marathon a few weeks before and he was finding this course incredibly hard by comparison. With us climbing up on the the highest point of the course I hope it put a perspective on where he was with regards to how most of the harsh climbing had been done and that with the Rivington under his belt he really should not be too phased by the course here. He had finished the race a decent chunk of time in front of me so he should have had the confidence that he would make the end relatively unscathed.

On these Endurancelife runs, when you see an effing big hill you know you'll be going up it!

Traversing the moors I also caught up with some of the back of the field of ultra runners - most of whom seemed to have been caught out by taking a wrong turn and diverting down to CP5 rather than continuing to CP2 which had cost them anything up to 3 miles - translating into around 45 minutes of lost time, hence me now being in amongst them as their head-start had been eroded by their directional misfortune… Two of the runners were a father and son duo, which I think was pretty cool; the 2 generations of the same family being out there on the trail together, geeing each other along to the finish.

Crossing the moors.

Once the 8 miles across the moorland were completed we headed off the ridge down on to the sand dunes, weaving our way through them and on to the beach with another mile of sand to traverse… There were plenty of dog walkers out along the beach, pretty much all of them seemed to have springer spaniels, and there were even a couple of kite surfers out to hit the waves in the bay. Knowing what was in store at the end of this beach made me wince at the anticipation: The steps of doom. The feckers never seem to end. You go from sea level on to the cliff-top path by a series of steep irregular steps that just go on and on. The dog walkers on their way down were having difficulty enough descending the steps, let alone us lot attempting to scale them… All you can do is just keep climbing one at a time, stopping several times to catch breath for your bursting lungs.

You steps, how I hate thee!

Eventually you hit the top and the woodland path that leads around the headland before spitting you out at the 20 mile mark at CP4 and the final stretch of beach.

Another beach... At least its not a hill :)

The terrain underfoot.

Once over this final stony beach we were back on to the final section, the grassy cliff-top path of the last 6 miles back to the finish. By this point I was absolutely spent, so even though the terrain was not too taxing, just the grassy and stoney path undulating along as you meandered over the coastline, I was finding it incredibly hard going, an absolute chore as I dragged my sorry arse towards the finish line.

Looking back along the coastal path.

The finest sight of the day!

This route is a tease, as you can see the finish from a few miles off, but rather than leading us straight there we veer away from it, so where before it was getting closer, you all of a sudden see it getting further away and all the frustration that entails, until finally you hit a turn in land and you have to deal with the ascent to the finish line… 

The teasing sight of the finish in the distance, only for us to wander beyond it.

Leaving the coast to head inland to the finish (finally).

With around a mile and a bit to go my Garmin ran out of battery with how long I had taken to run the course, and by not paying proper attention to where my feet were going, I kicked a rock with the outstep of my left foot, tearing a hole in the upper of my new trainers - the perfect end to the run. Yelping with the pain and turning the air blue with some choice anglo-saxon I hobbled up the trail towards the end, crossing the line almost an hour slower than last year.

I found the run incredibly demoralising in not being able to give a good account of myself. My bout of flu really had taken a lot out of me, far more so than I had thought. My legs were leaden throughout, I was unable to get a rhythm and despite the beautiful surroundings of the Gower I did not really enjoy the run as an experience and to cap it all I ruined a new(ish) pair of trainers in the process.

To try and take my mind off the sufferfest I had the iPod on shuffle for a decent amount of time, for what its worth this is what cropped up and had me singing along - well I was all by myself with no-one to disturb with the fact I am unable to carry a tune in a bucket:

No 1 Dominator - Top
Ironic - Alanis Morisette
Intravenous - Catherine Wheel
Moondance - Pele
Salsoul Nugget - M&S 
Love Spreads - The Stone Roses
Melt - Leftfield
Music Gets the Best of Me - Sophie Ellis Bextor
U Got To Let the Music - Capella
Mersey Paradise - The Stone Roses
Make it Mine - The Shamen
Transmission - Joy Division
Fuck Off - Maniac Squat 
Whatever It Takes - Belinda Carlisle
Who’s Got a Match - Biffy Clyro 
Chump - Green Day
Quiet - Smashing Pumpkins
For What it’s Worth - Placebo
A New Decade - The Verve
Ode to Love - Top
I Believe - Tim Booth & The Bad Angel
Summer Baby - Pavement
Mer Du Japon - Air
I Love Disco 2000 - The JAMMs
Performance - Happy Mondays
Worry Rock - Green Day
Half Man Half Machine - Goldie Lookin’ Chain
Complainte Gallaise - Tri Yann
Original - Leftfield
3 Times and you Lose - Travis