3rd May: CTS Pembrokeshire... A marathon Spudding session.

Back to where it all began: The Endurancelife CTS Pembrokeshire Marathon.

In October 2012 I ran this as my first ever organised marathon - and it hurt, boy did it hurt! Then it was part of my challenge to myself of running 12 trail marathons in 12 months, something I managed to drag myself across the finishing line in achieving and have not looked-back since.

On that initial marathon, if you discount the 2 middle-aged ladies who set-out early with the ultra runners and walked every step of the way, then I finished dead last with the final few miles spent having to fight the urge to curl-up by the side of the trail and cry like a baby!

Ok so I’ve improved slightly since then and here I am again in the village of Little Haven on the Pembrokeshire coast for another ‘first’… My first marathon as a canicrosser with Spud as my willing companion.

Since LSS & I found Spud in the on-line classified site ’pre-loved’ (his owner was unable to look after him through illness so she put him on there for adoption) he has become a much-loved addition to the family and a very willing running buddy for the 2 of us. In fact running him has been a really good thing to do as it takes the edge off his continual need to be tearing around at 100mph all day every day - being a cross between a border collie and a springer spaniel he seems to have all the energy of the collie combined with the stupidity of the springer… But in a very loveable huggable kind of way!

As soon as he was old enough we have been taking Spud out on increasing distances and he is certainly ready to be taking-on a marathon distance, especially as now at this time of year it is not too hot or cold and the conditions underfoot being trail will not be damaging to his paws.

LSS joined Spud and myself on the 2 & 1/2 hour journey way out west for the day and we parked for the night over in Broad Haven for some kip before waking at dawn and making our way to the event base and registering for the race.

Excitement at the briefing!

Briefed on the jetty in the village centre, once the hooter went we were off and from the back of the pack starting point, Spud and myself deliberately made our way as far up the field as quickly as we could on the ascent out of the village. Knowing the course here I was aware there is a pinch-point getting on to the coastal path above the village that could have seen a very excitable Spud held in a queue for a few minutes to get through the gate and running again, so it seemed the sensible thing to do to get out of as many people’s way as possible and let them overtake us along the coastal path.

The coastal path with the dots of runners stretching along it.

On to the coastal path under the sunny sky we wound our way along the sheer clifftops to St. Brides where we descended to its small inlet and rocky beach. From her we turned inland by the church at Check Point 1 for a trip across the western peninsula of this bottom left corner of Wales, via the hamlet of Marloes, to the sheep-poo strewn WWII Coastal Command airfield.

Skipping up some steps.

Once across the flat couple of miles of the airfield and through Check Point 2 at 9 miles you begin the 10k loop of the southern peninsula with the slow easy descent in to the village of Dale… As we hit the outskirts of it we passed a window cleaner working with his dog left in his van, a dog that was not too pleased at all these people passing him by and was very vocal about this. Initially I though he was just having a shout at Spud, but from listening after passing you could tell how many people were behind and how close by the torrent of woofs still to be heard as Spud and I plodded away onwards to the shore.

A 'refined' view.

Through the centre of Dale, being at sea-level it was the start of the ascent back up on to the cliff-tops, and the undulating slog around the headland. On one ascent with the temperature rising I saw through a gap in a hedge a large pond holding water for the farmers fields. With us still being a few miles from the next aid station I ducked-under the fence with Spud to allow him to drink his fill… The pool was absolutely teeming with tadpoles and Spud was straight in there belly deep drinking the water and attempting to eat the tadpoles at the same time!

Teeming with tadpoles.

Passing the Coastguard look-out point we approached the lighthouse and the cottages at St. Ann’s Head, crossing a field to get to it… Unfortunately this field was full of cows, cows that had been wound-up by the passing through their field of countess ultra and marathon runners, and now there was someone with a dog invading their territory.

The cows were split either side of the well-trampled path and as Spud and myself, along with another 2 runners approached them they took a big interest in me and the boy and began to close in on us. To give Spud his dues he was not fazed by this at all, as when he is running that is all he concentrates on (unless he sees a squirrel) so he was ignoring the attention of these large slabs of beef. At this point I slowed a bit to allow the other runners a chance to get away from us as the cows certainly were not interested in them and Spud and I attempted to ‘run the bovine gauntlet’ and get to the exit of the field.

I was looking ahead for an exit strategy. The fence the path leads you to is waist height with 2 rows of barbed wire on top and you need to take a right turn against it and follow the fence for another 100 metres before arriving at the gate to leave the field… Which meant the two of us were potentially going to be pinned against the fence at any point along there.

Maintaining a constant pace Spud carried on running and ignoring what was happening but when we made it through the cows they all converged in a group behind us and began to jog after us matching our pace in the direction of the fence. Looking around I could see there were 2 leaders of the herd that the others were following. Turning my head to keep an eye on what was occurring I could see they were now beginning to speed-up and as we hit the fence there was now a real danger of us being pinned against it.

There were some holiday makers on the other side of the fence who could see what was happening and started shouting at me to let Spud go… The fence was too high to hurdle although I could easily get Spud over it by picking and throwing him across. The thing is Spud was fine with the situation and had not confronted or caused any direct issue with the cows and letting him go would put him and myself in direct danger if he was to bolt and panic the cows.

By this time the other 2 runners were through the gate so were now safe and very relieved! Assessing the situation I took the chance that the cows were really just curious and allowed them to keep following, but when they got to within a metre of my back I took the step of firmly turning my body as I jogged and holding my arm out to them with my palm up I shouted a firm ‘no’ to them. This made them stop which bought us an extra metre before they began to follow again, this time keeping their distance… I covered the last 20 metres or so to the gate with my arm out behind me, palm up and repeating ‘no’ every few paces until we got to the gate and mercifully through it with minimal faff and fumbling of the catch! A close call - although Spud was completely unaware of everything that had gone on and just wanted to keep on running!

Looking back at the lighthouse.

Relieved to have escaped we took it easy on the last couple of miles to Check Point 3, finishing the loop of the peninsula 16 miles in to the race, with Spud taking on plenty more water at the stop. All the Check Points at the Endurancelife events have tubs of water specifically for the dogs to drink from as part of being canicross friendly events. With us humans running long distances we need to keep ourselves sustained with food, and the same principal it is with dogs - I had taken some high-value treats (to dogs that is) for Spud on the run - a bag of cooked chicken and a bag of chopped Mattesons sausage. As a reward for successfully negotiating the cows I gave him most of the bag of sausage a bit at a time to keep his energy levels up.

Gateholm Island.

From here it was a return to St. Brides along a different route that was mostly on the cliff-tops, passing the sight of Gateholm Island before a quick trip north across the western peninsula and hitting the coastal path once more which will be our companion for the final 10k or so.

On this final 10k, having given Spud most of the chicken I took the opportunity to start a new trend - you may have heard of ‘nutscaping’ where men take a photo of some cracking scenery with one of their hairy ’plums’ blurred in shot at the top well I’ve thought of going one step further but on a tangent; taking photos of cracking landscape with a furry Spud in the corner or the bottom of the shot and calling it ‘muttscaping’… So here’s some of our efforts from the last 10k.

Crossing the finish line half an hour faster than my last effort on the course, Spud had more than taken it all in his stride - in fact as I sat with LSS (who was there to cheer us in) on the grass by the finish to recover my breath, he was straining to go run and play with the other dogs who had run the half marathon or 10k and were all chilling-out in the warm spring sunshine with their tired owners!

A happy chappy sporting his bling.

A cheeky pint in the pub on the quayside followed, where Spud was trying to look as pitiful as possible to cadge food off those eating their lunch before the three of us made our way back up the hill to the fun-bus and the drive home. Once the motor was running, Spud finally gave-in to the effort of the day and curled-up in his travel cage and fell asleep immediately for the entire trip, and well deserved it was too!

Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Run far.

25th January: A Brutal Spud

Over the last year I have had a very willing training buddy in the form of my 4 legged friend ‘Spud’. Since he was old enough to start running, he has been out several times a week with both LSS & myself and he has coped admirably with all distances from a 5k parkrun to 20 miles… Now he is well used to running, I felt he was ready for his first proper race: the Brutal 10k ‘Men Only’.

I have been taking part in Brutal 10 races ever since I started trail running a good few years back and in fact it was running one of these, experiencing how hard it was and realising how woefully unfit I had become, that spurred me on to further feats of two-legged lunacy.

This was the first Brutal I had done since my outing dressed as an ostrich the previous Christmas, so I was looking forward to getting back to the challenge of one of their 10k routes, although with a twist as today would be 2 laps of a 5k course strapped to a lunatic spaniel.

I drove with Spud & LSS (along for the ride to watch and laugh at us) to the event base on the army tank proving ground around the back of Farnborough airfield, the same location for the ‘Grim’ race. This race is always going to be a wet and muddy one as the soil there is mostly sand which becomes waterlogged in the open and creates large pools of thick sandy mud, so the trips through the hilly wood and scrub land are often very welcome as you can progress quite well as opposed to the cold sticky wade as soon as you hit the water.

Registering as one of the Cani-cross runners I was handed our number (drawn on in marker) and we readied ourselves in the chill to start. Our start was to be 15 minutes in front of the main racers to allow the dogs to be spread-out along the course rather than as a pack chasing-down slower runners from the beginning and finding ourselves all bunched-up with the field from the start, which is a very sensible way of organising things.

Awaiting the start amongst the puddles.

Both the 5k & 10k races start at the same time so we waited in the middle of the combined pack, with the cacophony of barking hounds all wound-up and eager to run assailing everyone’s ears. There were all shapes and sizes of dogs that you could imagine, some that you would never picture at an event like this, which I suppose could also apply to the owners as well!

Soon the air-horn blew and we were off, all the hounds eager to be away and doing what they enjoy, with the pace being very brisk from the start. We found ourselves with the leaders from the start and able to hold-on to them… Although I did realise that it was not possible to discern who was running the 5k or the 10k to tell if it was those running the shorter distance who were really haring-off in front!

Haring off all a blur.

The course was a mix of puddles, woodland trails, and heathland with the occasional short and steep hill thrown in for good measure (going both up and down them). The sections through the woods were well guided with the use of tape so you never found yourself losing the route, even though we were the first to be on the course, although Spud was very keen to take his own path at times rather than keeping to the track which caused a few stoppages to drag him back from around the wrong side of trees and on to the course once more.

One of our fellow runners was finding that his boxer, who was also racing for the first time, was not taking well to the mix of the other dogs around him and the water - refusing to go in the puddles from the start and managing to slip his leash on a couple of occasions as he fought to do his own thing rather than his owner’s intentions!

Through another wallow.

By the time we were halfway round we were soaked, covered in mud and a bit colder for our exertions, although by keeping a brisk pace it meant we never got a chance to cool-down too much. The ever changing terrain, ensuring Spud was taking a correct line, and easing-off downhill so as to not pull me over meant I needed total concentration at all times, so there was no danger of mentally 'zoning-out' at any point, or any real chance to take any pictures either. The whole way round the first lap we were in sight of people and was able to have the occasional chat whilst wading, and the braver spectators out in the middle of the course at the various wading points seemed to be entertained by the sight of the dogs pulling their owners through the mire.

Starting the second lap.

On the second lap, I knew exactly what was in store for us… and so did Spud! unfortunately with spending the 5k of the first loop going in and out of freezing water and mud that was up to his armpits, he was beginning to have a sense of humour failure and tried to avoid mud and water altogether, which was not possible (and designed to be thus), so he was trying to take the shortest route through it at all times, which for the most part was not following the course, so I had to spend time and effort fighting him pulling me off to the side and off balance to keep us going in the right direction.

For most of the second lap we seemed to be all by ourselves, and by my reckoning we would be in with a shot at a podium place if we could pick-off a couple of runners, so I went as hard as I could and managed to get to within about a minute or so of the man and his dog in front before Spud decided to exact revenge on me...

Through one particularly deep sticky muddy wade he decided he was going to get out by climbing the sides and he kept pulling hard to the side, forcing me to stumble blindly in the thigh-deep mud and water and pulled me bodily over on a couple of occasions, just managing to keep my head out of the yellow ’water’. I could tell that he was not enjoying himself, so I decided to ease-off on the chase and try to take as dry a route as possible to the finish, although this was not entirely possible.

As we raced onwards we overtook some of the slower runners from the 5k/10k race who must have been coming to the end of their first (or only) lap, including a woman running this men only race wearing a set of ‘Groucho Marx’ glasses complete with ‘tache to attempt to ‘fit in’ in a way that was reminiscent of the ‘Life of Brian’ stoning scene, which made me chuckle, and the fact that the leading racer from the main 10k race only overtook us with less than a mile to go did not hurt so much!

To be honest I was now sympathising with Spud as I was now no longer feeling my feet as they were getting so wet so often that any heat was being sucked out of them, so when we could see the finish line a mile away and hear the cheering of the spectators we managed to speed-up a little to get to the end as quickly as possible… One final splash and swim across the pool for the second time, lined all the way by the cheering crowd, with Spud getting lots of love and swimming as close to them as possible, we emerged from the other side and crossed the finish line in 5th place… Ok so it may be 5th out of 14, but I’ll take that any day!

The final wade to the finish.

As ever the atmosphere of the whole event was great, with the emphasis still being on the ‘fun’ rather than the serious head-down-and-charge mentality that 10k races can so often have, and being the ‘men only’ race it did not seem to make it ultra competitive as an entirely testosterone fuelled field might have been. They even gave us an event specific medal, something new for Brutal as they have always till now been a ‘no-frills’ operation. The course was well marked and cheerfully marshalled even in the cold wet conditions.

I really enjoy the Brutals as ‘speed-work’ for my trail marathons - my time today would have seen me placed in the top 1/3 of the main field, on what was a tough course to get much speed-up for large sections with the thick cloying wades to be undertaken - oh and by the time I had finished, the marker pen drawn number I had been given was now non-existent!

As you can tell I was #565 in the race!

I will definitely be back for more, calendar permitting, although I have realised that Spud is not one for continual drenching in the cold, so he will not be back for this particular course in the future, but will certainly race in other ones as he did enjoy the running part - he certainly got some treats later in the day as rewards for his efforts!

A bemedalled Spud :)

Big thanks to LSS for coming along to spectate in the cold & wet to take some shots of Spud & me in action :)

Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Run far.

1st June: Canicross

Having enjoyed the glorious spring sunshine on the coast in Devon for the last of this season’s Coastal Trail Series, the next morning saw me go out on a recovery run… albeit one with a difference in the torrential downpour the weather had changed to overnight.

I’ve mentioned previously the sight of canicross runners at the Brutal events, and Heidi my spaniel has shown a potential to become one on the times we have gone out running together, so when one of my clients was instrumental in setting up a local informal canicross running group, I thought now was the time to go for Heidi and me to jump in the deep end.

The previous Thursday I had been out with Heidi on a run along the canal with my client and her English Setter by means of acclimatising Heidi to see if she could cope running with another dog, and she easily survived, so I arranged to tag along to Hawley Woods and dive in at the deep end…

We all met up first thing on the bank holiday Monday, a mixed group of runners of varying abilities and an equally disparate group of hounds and in the pouring rain we were all soaked in a matter of minutes, so off we all went and climbed and descended the wood and scrub land, before heading up the hill in the direction of the Blackbushe flats, where we were aurally assaulted by the 10am test of the Broadmoor siren, the warning system for those nearby of an escape by one of the patients from the secure hospital of Broadmoor. The sound carried across from nearby Crowthorne; reverberating off the underside of the low clouds, the air was still, becalmed of wind to give an almost eerie sensation that the siren was next to you, coming at you from all directions with the only other sound the rain pouring down.

From here we headed towards Minley and toured around some good single-track in the land behind Minley Manor. This building was until recently the officer’s mess for the training garrison of Gibraltar Barracks nestled on the edge of Hawley Woods. Built in a French style in the Victorian era, the house has been used as a film and TV location - most notably of late in the film ‘Stardust’.

Taking a breather under some trees in Minley

We wrapped-up a good 10 mile circuitous route with a lap of Hawley Lake - allowing the dogs to drink and wallow in the water after all their efforts. Whilst there we ended up having a ‘discussion’ with a jobs-worth security guard in his hi-vis vest of power and 4WD vehicle that no doubt served to overcompensate for any shortcomings elsewhere, attempting to play the big man and implying we were not welcome to run with dogs there, despite being on common land and not contravening any of the military by-laws that govern MoD land in the area where we live… The fella must have been bored with nothing better to do, although you would have thought that some of their job training would involve detailed knowledge of the by-laws their company has been sub-contracted out to protect… Although the contract was most probably awarded to the organisation that tendered the lowest price for the service, and as we all know, if you pay peanuts you end up with monkeys.
 
Back at the van after the soaking of this run, Heidi was not deterred despite her pitiful looking up at me with wide eyes, flattened ears and the occasional shiver for effect - which were all soon cured with a handful of dog treats, and a few days later with some better weather we ventured out to Caesar’s Camp for another, and this time dry, evening run with some other members. Heading out from the car park towards the ‘Grim' course I had previously run, this route included a good few stops for the hounds to go paddle and cool off in ponds when we passed them.

Cooling dip.

The tempo of this run was a lot more easy-going than the pace of the Monday, which I had found heavy on my legs with the marathon being run the previous day! The distance clocked this time was around the 5k mark, but a good way to round-off a hard day’s work.
Managing to squeeze in one final canicross run this week before the forthcoming exertions of the Classic Quarter, the venue was once more Caesar’s Camp, but this time a different side which took us up and around the reservoir, incorporating a good few hills and single-track… A short way in to the run we came to the first reservoir and crashed through the woods and the shrubs to the water side to be confronted by a rather amorous couple in a very passionate clinch, only to have their moment of intimacy ruined by a bunch of runners and their hounds that proceeded to jump in to the water and have a good swim and splash in front of them, well and truly ruining their moment! although from looking at the couple it was probably just as well that we arrived when we did as if we had been 5 minutes later, then it could have been a whole world of awkwardness for everyone!

Climbing up to the high-point.

The run took us up and round towards the viewpoint from the top of Caesar’s Camp looking down over Farnborough and Aldershot. Right next to us was the finish line of an event put on by the Army Orienteering club, where as an exercise there were plenty of recruits testing their running and map reading skills, mercifully for them in running gear rather than in fatigues!

Heidi being camera-shy as always!

After posing for a photo we wound our way back down from this highest point and back in to the cars for what was a decent pacey 10k.

Over the course of the run, you really gained a great impression of how important this area of land is for people's recreation. Aside from solo joggers, cyclists and dog walkers, we encountered the local triathlon club doing circuits of the reservoir and fartlek work, a couple of large organised groups of MTBers and smaller bands of friends on their evening ride together. When you add us in to the mix and the Army Orienteering club, then you could say that the area was heaving… Although it is that large that any contact with other users was minimal to say the least.

Happy Heidi!

Well the most important part of my ‘dogging' is Heidi, and she seems to enjoy these runs more with each time… I now know that Heidi prefers to run as part of the pack content to be near the front but not in the lead, except on woodland single-track; she absolutely adores these and strains to get to the front, really pulling at the lead. It may have something to do with the enclosed nature of the woodland having less distractions than the open scrubland or tarmac stretches, but she certainly favours it, although she still will not run through a puddle and actively skirts round mud where she has a choice. Now when I ask Heidi if she wants to go for a run she goes bat-shit crazy with excitement pogoing around and eager to get in to the van and run.

The group with whom I have been out, Hart and Rushmoor Canicrossers, are a friendly bunch meeting informally a few times a week with runs of different lengths at different paces to cater for all abilities of dog and owner from the most fleet of foot to ponderous of plodder - I’ll leave it to you to decide whether I am describing humans or hounds there!

If you are in or near the Hart or Rushmoor area of Hampshire and want to go out on a social run with your dog over some lovely countryside terrain, then get in touch with them, they'll make you and your dog feel most welcome.