9th June: South Downs

Today saw the closest of the marathons to where I live: The South Downs. The race takes place in the national park (from which the race takes its name) in the manner of a point to point. You arrive at the finish in Queen Elizabeth Country Park and are bussed to the start at Slindon College and you run 'home'.

My neighbour Pini was running in the race as well, so I offered to give him a lift down with me in my van, which I finally have back from the garage (2 months after it went in) as it turns out I'd been sold a lemon :( The van affords decent comfort and space in the cabin for the journey and the plan for it is to be self-converted into a camper for use on the weekend marathons and summer camping expeditions. I'm still to get beyond the planning stage through not being able to get my hands on it, but as it stands can be used as a changing room on wheels!

Driving back from the garage on the Friday night I returned to the village too late for the petrol stations to be open. With the warning light on for the fuel lit for an empty tank and the dial being firmly on zero I knew it would be an early start to Saturday with a dash to the nearest 24hr garage to put some juice in the lemon.

We needed to be parked at Queen Elizabeth Country Park a few miles north of Portsmouth and on one of the event coaches to Slindon College before 8am, so to be able to be organised and get there in time I set the alarm for 5am.

Springing in to action I jumped in the van, with my bike in the back and an empty 5L fuel can in case of running-out en-route. The nearest 24 hour garage is about 6 miles off, so I figured that in a worst case scenario I would have enough time to cycle to get 5L of fuel, cycle back, pour it in and drive to get more, drive home and still have time to leave for the race at the decided hour of 6:30.

Fortunately I made it to the garage without incident, put the fuel in and drove-off after paying… Looking down at the fuel gauge it still had the light on and was reading absolute zero… So off to the garage it will have to go for more repairs which will have meant that I would have spent as much on repairs as I did buying it!

Pini knocked on my door at 6:30 and we clambered in and drove off on the uneventful 30 mile journey to the finish line and a half mile walk to a waiting bus and embarcation for the half hour journey.

Upon arrival we walked into Slindon college and milled around with everyone else awaiting the start. Under the sun it was quite pleasant but there was quite a chilly wind blowing across the site which made it uncomfortable.

The college building.

Fortunately we noticed there was a step wall down to another tier of the grounds looking towards the start which formed an excellent wind-block, so we hopped over this and sheltered whilst we awaited the start.

Looking back over the wall.

Whilst queuing for the toilets I noticed Jagjit, the guy who was parked next to me at the CTS Flete race and finished just after me in the race, so I went over and had a chat with him and wished him all the best… It turns out he's entered the 54321 and the Fairlands Valley Challenge as well, although since booking he's off to India for the month of August so will have to bail from the 54321.

I had a good chat with a couple of other runners, one of whom was one of the many 100 marathon club members who were running the race. They were all sporting their blue and yellow tops and seemed to know each other very well as a consequence of just being around the same events as each other so often.

The relay marathon about to start.

After watching the start of the relay it was time for us all to work our way down to the start and commence our race. It was a massed start and wishing Pini the best I watched him scamper off into the distance.

Pini all smiles ready for the get-go.

All geared-up for the long-haul.

The start was once around the 400m track, then up the hill passing the school and out the front gate, along the road and on to the country paths working our way on to the South Downs Way. For the first couple of miles I was chatting with one gent who was wearing his son's Royal Marines tech tee that he had just worn the previous week in the regimental field-gun race. He was rightly very proud of his son's achievement as that race requires a squad of men dismantling a Victorian artillery piece, carrying it over an assault course, reassembling it and firing it to stop the clock!

Farm track running.

On to the Downs and we were out from any woodland shelter and exposed to the heat of the cloudless sky. After taking a tumble over one of the stones sticking out of the chalky path and barking my elbow drawing blood, topping the hill I made it to CP1 without incident and took the hairpin left on to the next section, running along the ridge of the Downs. The views up here were quite beautiful: rolling hills and fields stretching out for miles on both sides, although with the sun beating down it was quite oppressive due to the trail itself. Underfoot it is the chalk rock of the Downs, so the sun just reflects off it quite spectacularly leading to plenty of glare and thankfulness for wearing sunnies.

The long glaring chalk path.

The run to the second checkpoint included a long fast descent over a metalled road to a farm. This was an easy stretch to run, although you could see the mahoosive hill that awaited us on the other side of the checkpoint at the end of this descent. At this point I caught up with a guy who was wearing the same camel bak as me and on his first marathon. and an XC one at that. He had set himself a pace target for 5 hours and was looking good for it. He had his wife and kids waiting for him at the finish line so he knew he had a motivation to finish… The look of pride on his children's faces as they watched their dad cross the finish line and become a marathoner.

Great views as you run the ridge.

Viewing for miles off into the distance.

Between the second and third checkpoints there was one stretch that lead through some woodlands before dog-legging up on to a field that we ran up to and around the edge of. Just as I approached this I could see one of the 100 marathon club runners carry straight on instead of turning up hill and on to the field. About half a mile later the same runner appeared from the right out of the woods and in to the field having missed out all the gradient of the climb on to the field and the uneven run across it. He then proceeded to cut the corner of the field rather than do the 2 sides of a triangle from the point that he joined it. It made me wonder that whilst he may have started and finished more than 100 marathons to wear the club jersey, how many of them have been finished 'short' of the official distance?.. At the end of the day you're only cheating yourself in matters like this as you have not run the true distance.

The final ridge run looking down on the village of Buriton.

More ridge running followed until we reached the final checkpoint. Mentally I had set myself a time of sub 5 hours to improve on my pb and prove to myself that I really could get in under that marker on a marathon. At this point I was still on track to hit this after a lot of hard running. At the final checkpoint took on some water and attempted to run up the steep hill in front of me, and that's where the wheels fell off. The sun was beating down with no shelter. I could feel my heart beating like it wanted to explode out of my chest, and no amount of water over my head was seeming to cool my temperature… I had to slowly walk-stop-walk to the summit as I could feel all my banked time evaporating before me. Eventually there was some shade after the summit and I could resume running again, but I soon found I was spent when I encountered the next hill and all hope of busting the 5 hours flew away… Resetting my goal to one of just finishing as soon as I could as there was only 5 miles left, I reconciled it with myself that I run this distance for fun with no problems so finishing is a given, the trick is just to get to the finish line.

Slowly but surely, feeling every one of the short, sharp hills that made the rest of the route I managed to drag my sorry arse to the finish line. Eventually I found myself by the cafe where we had embarked on the buses earlier so the end was only a mile off back where the van was parked.

After a detour around some hedges I found myself in the field with the finish a couple of hundred metres in front of me so I mustered all I could to get to the finish line. Crossing I gratefully accepted the finishers goody-bag and the event tee, grabbed a bottle of water and collapsed in the shade in the empty half of the baggage gazebo.

Taking off my trainers, socks and ankle protectors to cool down I lay back to cool, drinking the water. A couple of minutes later I spotted Pini wandering along so called out to him. Beaming from ear to ear he came and joined me along with his partner Vics who had very kindly obtained for me a printout of my time.

A beaming Pini.

The reason for Pini's smiles were his amazing time for the race. He had finished 8th in his age group and 20th overall - a fantastic performance. Just as well I had given him the van keys, as I knew he would finish well before me, so he could chill-out and change in the back. He had torn-up the course in 3:25:02 putting my paltry time of nearly 2 hours longer into a kind of perspective!.. Although I did have the solace of knowing I have set a new pb for the distance. Sub 5 hours will have to wait for the next race (or the one after, or the one after that depending on how crap I am!) onwards and upwards and all that.

26th May: Flete-ing

Following my normal pattern for these events, I arrived at the location for the final round of this season's Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series: Flete in South Devon shortly after midnight and I parked-up around the corner from the event base as its field and the adjacent car park were already locked for the night. I had taken a new airbed along with me so for once I would be able to get a full night's sleep without waking to find the bed had gone flat!

The alarm sounded at 6 for me to find myself surrounded by a beautiful cloudless sky, although there was some frost on the ground in the sheltered part of the event base's field into which I drove after a bit of breakfast and a change into my running gear. Whilst I was one of the first there, others soon followed and I watched as the field began to fill with quite a few camper vans, vans and estate cars as I breakfasted properly. Speaking of filling-up, one of the 4 provided site portaloos packed in. This left the event 25% down on the facilities, which with the nature of long distance running, where everyone seeks to purge themselves as much as possible before the start of the run, the queues were a bit longer than they could have been in an ideal world!

Early arrivals

There was no early start as such for marathoners in this race. With everything being governed by the timings of the tide on the river Erme, they had elected to start the ultras 15 minutes before the marathoners, so pretty much both races were signing in at registration at the same time. After I had negotiated the simple hassle-free process of registering, I noticed my chip was a different number to my race number so naturally I went back and queried if this was supposed to be the case. Fortunately I did this as they had put wrong chip on my wrist and so changed it to avoid me running someone else's race and vice-versa!

With my collection of Endurancelife running tees burgeoning to say the least, at this event we had the choice of a tee, a buff or a race belt. Seeing as I had just bought a race belt at the Hart Sprint Triathlon the other week I went for a buff as I have found them to be very useful in winter and it helps to have a few - so this one goes to join my mementos from the Brutal 10k this November gone and the XT Duathlon from a few years back.

Standing in the field awaiting the briefing and enjoying the warmth of the morning sun I noticed that standing nearby me, also in a world of his own, was Richard Lander-Stow writer of the Bike Run Swim blog, which is well worth reading if you enjoy endurance activities and the man himself is one of those inspirational people who cannot help but make you want to go outdoors and do something physical! I've seen him at a few of the same CTS events so I went over and said hello and we spoke of our experiences in the series and what is up next. He was saying that after doing the running this last year his big one now is preparation for next year's Ironman Wales, which for anyone an endurance race of this distance is a terrific challenge and he will be gearing his training towards this so will not be seen at as many events come the autumn and beyond. I whole-heartedly wish him well with his endeavours... Top fella that he is.

Off for the final briefing of the series, with no warning of hazards, deaths or injuries for once, just a keep your eyes open for the sights, especially the woodlands with their flowers. We were also set a challenge of finding a piece of litter each to bring back with a prize for the 'best' one... Whether or not there will be one is another matter, but hey, anything that will encourage people to clean up the environment gets my vote!

The view in front as we set off.

And the view behind

The race started with a trek out the field and through some woodland paths down to the river which with high tide was at its fullest and at this point a chocolate brown in colour, before we made a right turn on hitting about 20 yards of beachy river bank and heading uphill to the coastal path then round inland to the first water station and checkpoint at 4.9 miles.

Placid seas

Some a-moos-ed bovines, two of which appear to share one head.

A spot of descent.

Sometimes the 'inland' legs of these runs can be a little uninspiring, with a plod along farm tracks with high hedges on either side obscuring any view and field after field which seem to merge into one before we manage to find the coast again.

Inland views.

Down along the river.

This time going inland was certainly a highlight with decent views to be had at almost every turn!.. The inland section was through the Flete estate so was along woodland paths that were surrounded by a carpet of bluebells and some long stemmed pink flowers.

Bluebells

Blooming Ramsons

Also the Ramsons, or wild garlic was in bloom, with the scent of it filling your nostrils, giving the woodland stretches an aroma an Italian restaurant's kitchen, something you either love or hate! The River Erme and the estuary was in view most of the time, snaking in land on the first section, then flowing outwards via some mud flats.

Mudflat.

The checkpoint that divided the in and out sections of this inland stretch was itself under the gaze of Flete House, up high on the steep hill as we were in the valley floor. From here it was across the river, passing by a ruined watermill

The mill that resembled me: ruined.

and more delightful woodland trails, including a fallen tree blocked route which we had to scramble under.

Blockage

On this section I ended up running for a stretch with a Dutchman from the Hague. He had driven all the way here on holiday with his family, with the first day of the holiday being this marathon! Fair play to him, and it seems that the nutter element of these events is not confined to the UK! I told him about my August trip to Iceland where we arrive on the Friday and I run the Reykjavik marathon on the Saturday, and he totally agrees with the sensible way of combining a good run with a holiday.

On the coastal path once more.

As we made our way out to the coast again, a group of 5 of us ended up congregating together and spent a few miles swapping stories and tales of our motivation for doing crazy things. One lady was running her second marathon and she had come from just 5 miles away, another was here with her fiancé who was in the ultra marathon, the other gent in the group beside me was a vegan runner who I have seen at a couple of the other events and had chatted with briefly way back at the Pembrokeshire marathon. He has a mischievous sense of humour and a good collection of jokes, many involving sheep it seems - I hope to bump in to him on future runs as his enthusiasm and sense of humour was certainly uplifting. The last member of our group was one remarkable lady who seems to thrive on endurance events.

The previous weekend she had cycled 130 miles around London over 2 days and had run the Dorset CTS late last year just 6 weeks after breaking a rib tripping over a tree-root in darkening woodland on an endurance walk in Surrey. Distance cycling is mainly her thing at the moment, but with a boyfriend based in Devon she takes any opportunity to get down this way from her base in Surrey. She was remarkable at running up hills. Whilst all of us would pretty much walk them she would merrily skip up them - well jog them anyway, although she was feeling the strain on her body after the previous week's cycle and in the end, as a group we dropped her when she stopped at the top of one hill to empty gravel from her shoes.

Shortly before this happened, the group of 5 of us were running past some houses near Bigbury and the lady owner rushed out of the house with a pitcher of water and cups and insisted we all stop for water - which we gladly did, serenaded by her collie with its head sticking out through the cat flap in the door. With the dog clamouring for attention it was let out and given a good fuss by all of us. A shared moment like this makes you feel wonderful about humanity and the good nature of a lot of people. I never knew who this lady was but thank you, whoever you are!

Like the Northumberland marathon, we had an extended section over the beaches as we approached Bigbury and rounded the headland with Burgh Island on our left.

Beachy running.

 We were running as a group of 4 at that point and it was amusing seeing the looks people were giving us as we jogged in a line abreast across the hard flat sand, picking our way between the sunbathers! Naturally as we got to the steps for the CP at the end of the beach, myself and the other gent in our quartet allowed the ladies to go first!

A couple of miles along the coast and we came across a beast of a hill and I was dropped by all the others - and rightly so. The contours to mark the gradient on the OS map seemed to have it as vertical - and it damned well felt like it! I had to stop 3 times just trying to walk up it. I honestly think it was worse than the hill in South Devon that was making hardened ultra runners weep! With the stopping I was able to sit there and enjoy some of the sun and the stunning view back towards Burgh Island that was in front of me.

The view from on the beast of a hill.

Eventually I summitted it and was able to to resume running, or jogging, or staggering - whatever you feel is the most appropriate term for my running style, towards the finish through a flock of judgemental sheep.

You must be baa-rmy trying to get up here on 2 legs, its hard enough on 4!

Soon I rounded a headland and could see on the other side of the estuary the flags of the event marquee, and I knew that it was only going to be 2-3 miles left till I was finished.

The path worked its way inland and down to the water's edge before we forded the estuary and the final ascent to the finish.

Crossing the line I qualified for the 7x t-shirt that is earned after finishing 7 of the CTS runs in a season. The limited edition black shirt cannot be bought and is only supplied to those that qualify to wear it once they have double checked on everything to make sure only those who truly earn it get it, so I can look forward to it in the post some time in the summer!

My time was a slight disappointment to me, however it turns out that my time goal would have put me 14th in the race so it was neither realistic nor obtainable for me with my level of fitness! I had set this goal based on the 2/5 difficulty factor assigned to the race by Endurancelife. In reality I found this course on a par with South Devon and Exmoor, and certainly harder than the 3/5 North Yorkshire Moors that I had run the other week. Chatting with others at the finish they all seem to be of a similar opinion that it certainly is a lot harder than the 'official' rating, especially when there were a lot there who have run the Exmoor course 6 weeks ago so can compare quite easily.

With the sun still high in the sky and a decent warmth I chilled-out on the grass after changing out of my running gear before making the drive home.

I've thoroughly enjoyed running these 7 CTS marathons and I have already made up my mind to go back for more - my preference is to run those that I have not yet done so as a priority and to revisit some of these 7 to card a second time to establish if I am improving as a cross country marathoner… I may even be tempted to run some of them as ultras to really put myself through the rinser!

Here's a shot of me crossing the estuary waving the piece of litter I picked up - a frayed piece of fisherman's rope, which LSS has pointed out looks like Ken Dodd's tickling stick and thinks I should be off to the jam-butty mines!

19th May: Daddy Daughter Running

The Hook Fun Run and Road Race is the annual village event that sees most people come out to cheer on those participating over 2.5, 6 or 10 miles. The short course is once around the centre of the village, the 6M takes in the further reaches to the west and the 10M route ventures out northwards to the neighbouring village of Rotherwick and back.

Rather than run the 10 miles in fancy dress as I did last year (here's my blog about it) I had arranged with her mother for my eldest daughter to run the 2.5M race with me, which she was well up for. Not just for a chance to run with her daddy again, but a chance to run in a proper race.

Feeling that I should be missing out on a decent run myself I took myself out on a good 10.5M XC run as soon as I awoke for some form of prep for the Flete CTS Marathon next week. I chose to head out along the canal and across the fields to its derelict side before a couple of miles of road up the hill to Tylney Hall and across their golf course and the fields from Rotherwick to home.

For a distance like this I did not feel the need to take any drink with me so I was able to run totally free and unhindered today - although I did feel my right hammy tightening for part of the run but a stop for a massage eased this out.

On returning I just had enough time to take a shower, walk the dogs with LSS and get changed ready for the run. I met up with the girls and their mother at the appointed time at the race base of the village junior school.

Meeting up beforehand

I had arranged for my daughter to be wearing her England top and I would wear one as well so we looked kind of together with similar shirts and consecutive numbers. In no time I had her first ever race number pinned to her front and after posing for a photo we worked our way to the start line.

Numbered-up!

Whilst no stranger to school and inter school running races this was her first proper event involving people of all ages, so she was understandably feeling a bit nervous. As we walked off her mother had said to her as encouragement to try her hardest and to finish as far beyond the middle as possible. I thought this might be putting a bit too much pressure on her so I said that we would run it as fast as she could manage and we would do it without stopping, just slowing down if it was becoming a bit too hard.

A Nervous-Nelly

Soon we were off and running out of the school with the pack. People were jostling trying to find space and the occasional unintentional elbow was being jabbed here and there even though this is just a once around the block course that most of the village joggers do each day so they should know their pace. Some people seem to have the worst brought out of them by competition!

I warned my daughter about stating off too fast and we should take it easy to allow her to find her pace, and within about 5 minutes with the course being an incline for this till the top of the railway bridge I could see she was starting to struggle with her face getting redder and redder, so rather than running just behind her and to the side as I had been doing I ran alongside her and slowly dropped the pace down for her to recover a bit.

In action.

It was funny watching some of the over-enthusiastic boys in the race of around the same age as my daughter who would sprint as fast as they could past people, then emptying their energy tank found they had to stop or walk for a bit to recover before doing the same again. I think they may need to learn a bit about pacing a run over distance! Dropping behind my daughter again as this was going on I was able to observe that she was choosing to run on the grass verges rather than the pavement whenever she could - maybe she is a natural XC runner through preference?

After the detour through the industrial estate I pointed out that we were coming to the water station so she should have something if she needed it. The reply was yes and that she was going to throw the rest of it over her head like you see proper runners do… and sure enough she did so!

Up the hill for the next half mile of the eastern side of the route and loads of the villagers were out cheering everyone on, with a few people recognising my daughter and cheering her on by name. Near the top of the hill we ran past LSS who was primed with camera to catch us in action, which she duly did!

On the overtake.

Another successful pass.

Off we trot.

At the top of the hill it was getting a bit too much for my daughter who asked to stop because it was getting too tiring, so a few words of encouragement about how far we had come, we were nearly finished, the track was flat etc. seemed to snap her out of this temporary funk and in no time we were rounding the corner at the village centre to head back in to the school and the finish. This last stretch is all downhill so I encouraged my daughter to go for a sprint finish when she could see the finishing line. The reply was "I can't, I'm too tired." but as soon as we rounded the corner and the end was in sight she was off like a rocket and sprinted past 5 people, with me having to up my pace significantly to keep-up with her.

Just before the turn for the finish.

Crossing the line we were handed our finishers medals and we grabbed some water as the poor little thing was turning beetroot and running very hot from all the effort she had put in to run the course as fast as she could without stopping.

Posing with her well-earned medal.

My two daughters together... My youngest is a dancer and gymnast, not a runner/ sports girl.

When the result came out, it showed that she finished 21st of 65 in her age group of 8-11 year old girls, and 51 out of 233 women runners of all ages, which no matter what way you look at it is a terrific achievement and makes me incredibly proud of her... Not long till she will be beating her old man!

The two of us with our finishers medals as taken by my youngest daughter.

6th May: Triathlon

Today saw day 3 of my 3 day sports fest… After the exertions of Saturday's marathon, and getting an hour of footy yesterday - we won our final game of the season 6-4 to finish mid table in Div 2 of Basingstoke Sunday League having won one more than we lost and an equal goal difference… Part 3 of 3 this morning saw the annual Hart Sprint Triathlon.

I've been wanting to do a triathlon for a long time, with the closest to achieving this up till now being a duathlon as I hate swimming and I'm rubbish at it! But then again this forms part of the challenge to me, just to push myself through it and see what the outcome is.

The event is held this May Day bank holiday each year and this has been the first time in 4 years that I've been looking at it that I have been free from injury and able to participate. I deliberately did not enter in advance just in case the marathon was too much for me, but having corresponded with the organiser an on the day entry was always going to be fine, so this is what I did.

Moose had already told me he was going to be doing it, so I let it slip down the pub on Thursday that I may partake, so when I rocked-up stupidly early to register at the event base of the Hart Leisure Centre, I was not surprised to see that he was already there and well prepared as always, with me staggering in munching on my breakfast of champions: left over chocolate covered raisins and slurping it down with a can of Relentless!

We had a good chat about the event; Moose has joined the Basingstoke Tri club and is really keen on giving it a proper serious go as a sport, even tapering his training to suit today… Me on the other-hand did not do anything of the sort to maximise my performance, just ran a marathon, played some footy and thought what the hell - truly the worst lead-in to a race it could possibly be. I think my attitude to running and sporting performance amuses Moose as much as it infuriates him. He prepares meticulously every aspect and facet, I just turn up and go for it with a bare minimum of prep. The complete antithesis of each other… with Pini sitting somewhere between the two of us in attitude.

Killing the time till the off I went in to the transition area a few times to organise all my gear.

The transition area. My bike was on the furthest row away!

I realised that there was going to be an issue with numbering for the ride and run. With it being a proper triathlon I decided to wear a tri-suit for the event, so there was nowhere to pin the number. Fortunately the event had free t-shirts so I pinned the number to this ready for donning over the top of the tri-suit.

Racking the bikes in transition, everything was laid out as best as possible for a speedy change-over.

Racking the bike.

Meticulous in preparation!

And off I wandered to the swimming pool looking like a sausage bursting out of its skin in my wonderfully unflattering tri-suit.

With my swimming being so crap I was one of the first to set-off (my time for the 400m swim was the 5th worst of all 406 finishers!) and slowly thrashed my way through it and to be honest on the 3rd length I felt like I had made a very big mistake in doing this. Quitting is never an option so I consciously decided to take it easy on the swim to make-up the time on the other 2 parts. As I swam the last 2 laps I could see Moose poolside getting ready to start his swim, so I figured that I had about a 10 minute start on him.

Off in to transition having struggled to drag my weary carcass from the water. The one thing on my mind was the 'must put on helmet and fasten before touching bike' rule, which I adhered to, only to find I could not get the t-shirt with the number on over my head… Doh! so this cost me valuable seconds as I had to get the tee back off, helmet off, tee on then helmet on.

On to the bike and onto the 20km course. This was a circuit from Church Crookham up to the A30, down to Winchfield and back to the Hart Leisure Centre. I overtook about half a dozen riders on the ride and after a smooth transition it was out on to the 10k cross country run.

Surprisingly I did not suffer from 'jelly legs' as I transitioned in to the run (perhaps I don't move fast enough for this to happen!) and after a couple of km I was well in to my stride and had the chance to chat to a few people as I overtook them.

Running back in to the sports centre the sun was getting quite warm and I was grateful for the finish being sooner rather than those that set-out afterwards. Once there it was once around the field and across the line… about 5 minutes before Moose did.

Moose crossing the line.

Relief to have survived the first triathlon experience!

I managed to improve my position from the swim by a good 100 places before the finish and it was great to have survived putting myself through this, especially after the previous 2 days of exertion.

Collecting everything from transition it was pure bike-porn, with some very flash and fancy machines in carbon fibre that the VERY serious racers ride for those marginal gains - and are also by some overweight MAMIL's with more money than sense who do not really get the benefits from the ultra lightweight all-singing-all-dancing two wheelers.

Exiting transition for the last time I bumped in to someone wearing an Endurance Life shirt (the organisers of the Coastal Trail Series marathons that I have been running) which was great to find a kindred spirit and made Moose realise there's more than 1 nutter out there, and local to boot!

After hanging around and purchasing a race-belt, as did Moose who did exactly the same as me in transition with the tee over the helmet error, we went to watch the elite racers about to go out. Looking at the hardcore racers we could see a couple of Team GB triathletes in their suits - one of whom was Lucy Chittenden, a local girl who may well go on to great things - regardless of the time you record, it is a great feeling to be in the same event as people of this calibre!

The t-shirt was quite a good one as well that I would not be embarrassed to wear out and about so into the wardrobe it goes!

I certainly enjoyed the experience and would certainly like to do more - although with more work on the swimming in advance. The one I have my eye on is the off-road XT Triathlon in late September, which is in the woods that were my playground where I grew-up and was where I raced the duathlon I alluded to at the start.

4th May: North Yorkshire

The penultimate stage of the Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series (10/11) was the first time this event and course up in North Yorkshire had been run, with the coastal section being along the Cleveland Way. As such there were no hints or tips as to what you might expect, or for that matter GPS data from previous year's runners on the Garmin Connect website to provide a kind of crib-sheet; just the usual map posted on the website with the 'subject to change' disclaimer.

North Yorkshire is somewhere I have not been to since a week's holiday there as a child in a Forrestry Commission log-cabin, so there's no real memories of the place or what to expect scenery wise other than moorland situated in North Yorkshire!

Driving-up I did my usual thang of arriving there just after midnight and settle down in the howling wind for a sleep. The forecast was for strong winds and some showers, so all-in-all not too bad a prospect for the running conditions.

This race did not have the option of the early start for slow marathoners wishing to go out with the ultra crowd so I was down to go out with everyone else - although if I chose to I am sure I could have snuck-out with them and no-one would really have noticed! The result of this was a theoretical extra time to kip... I say theoretical as sleeping in a car means you tend to be up with the light or with the sounds of the movement of others around you.

After my breakfast of flapjacks and a couple of cups of coffee (I like it strong and black like my men - to quote Airplane) I drove back round the corner to park-up with the others just outside the base marquee in the village of Ravenscar.

Registration went without a hitch for myself, although one poor chap was having a bit of a mary registering as his surname was the same as a couple running the ultra and they were all mixed-up! I recognised a few faces from other runs, although no-one to talk to, and hung around till the briefing - which was very straightforward with no warnings of deaths and casualties on the route, or goats for that matter!

With the car next to the event marquee I prepped myself for the race and remained in the warmth there as the morning air still had a chill to it and the passing rain showers did not help.

With spring supposedly sprung I had decided to leave my winter running jacket behind in favour of my new lightweight shower-proof Dare2b 'Spedfast'. I had debated whether or not to bother with one at all with the temperature set to be around 13 degrees, but with it being on the cost I erred on the side of caution. Jettisoning the winter jacket meant I now had a storage issue as I went from having 3 pockets to 0 with the new jacket so a storage strategy had to be planned for this race. With my Vango hydration back-pack there is very little space for anything as there is nothing more than a key pouch on it. With the medical kit that is mandatory, plus the need for snacks en-route, as well as space for the camera and iPod & phone I decided I needed to get the running belt out again. The front pouch on this was good for the camera and the iPod at a squeeze, with a first-aid pouch purchased for the food & gels to sit on the belt for their carriage and the proper first-aid kit jammed into the key-pouch on the back-pack. With the damage sustained to the bungee cord on the back and the realisation that the current set-up is far from ideal I've decided against anything going on this and keeping everything compartmentalised and safely secured. I also made the decision to cram a 3L bladder into the 2L backpack with the race being 'hotter', just in case I were to run-out as by the end of Exmoor I had nearly finished the 2L one and time spent refilling at a water station would be a waste. This race I had decided to run wearing a cap for the first time. Over the winter I had bought a standard style light-weight running cap, but I do not particularly like caps and their big bills, so I decided to wear my 'Wessex CTC New Forest Gridiron' cycling cap as it is purely to stop the sun from burning my balding pate and the flippable bill is smaller and the thin flexible polyester nature of the cap makes it perfect in my eyes, if a little garish! Gathering my kit I attached my number to my shorts, put on my Asics XC trainers as the ground was pretty hard (and they are far more comfy than the More Mile's in general!) and suddenly realised that it was later than I thought.

Why is it when you think you are organised by being early that you always find yourself running late? I soon found myself rushing to be ready for the start... With bowels emptied, anti poo-pills popped and vitals greased-up I rushed to the start, just next to where I had been sleeping the night before.

Huddling against the wind.

Cliff-top start.

In no time we were under starter's orders on the cliff-top and away we went southwards. It seemed to be a slow incline all the way along this cliff-top path. I was feeling quite smug about choosing to wear my new jacket, although in the hat & gloves principal I have discovered in other races, I was soon feeling not-so smug and as the wind died-down and the sun shone and the temperature rose. 

Cliff-top view from the trail

After about 3 miles of running along the cliff-tops we soon came to the descent to beach level. I was chatting to one lady running the race who arrived at this point at the same time as me. She is normally a mountain biker and was experimenting with marathoning and was finding this section very hard going, especially as she said she would happily fly down it on a bike, but on foot is a different matter!

This descent was a very loose stony steep rocky clamber down 'steps', and I use the word as loosely as the going was under foot! There was no speed to be had here as a consequence.

The beech at the bottom.

At the bottom of the mountain-goat stage to the bottom and across the stream by the beach, it was up the hill on the other side. At this point it was getting too hot for the jacket so off it came - after around 30 minutes of use! Fortunately with it being so lightweight it rolled nicely on itself to tie around my waiste.

Once at the top we hit tarmac and ran back northwards - I realised there was around 20 miles left to go and we were running past these speed signs, which served a dual purpose here!

The sign @ 20 miles to go - it couldn't be better placed!

After a short while we were on to the disused railway line that until the Beeching cuts had linked Whitby to Scarborough. With the descent from the cliffs to sea level and now coming back-up I realised that we would be running up-hill the majority of the way back to the start on this figure of 8 loop.

The run here was mostly in shade as the woods have grown over the track (the rails themselves long gone) with the going underfoot quite good as it was a cinder bed that has been laid. We did divert off the line at one point through some woodlands, over a field and up along on to another trail. As I merrily jogged on. All of a sudden I saw somebody running up to me from the side, who seeing his top noticed was a marshall and stopped for him. He told me that the direction markers had been nicked again (3rd time that morning it turned out) and I needed to rejoin the railway track at the point he had emerged from. Thinking quickly I told him that there were 2 people I was aware of in front of me, the mountain biking lady by about 30 seconds and a male runner around a minute in front of her, so off to catch them he sprinted!

Joining back on to the railway track, we traversed past one of the stations en-route which was now somebodies whom and seemed absolutely idyllic.

The converted station house

Running along the 'track' in their front garden!

I followed the incline - a good 3 miles in total until Ravenscar arrived once more. Leaving the railway track we ran back on to the coastal path and jogged along in the direction of Robin Hood's Bay. As I progressed I found myself in amongst some of the half marathoners, including a lady running it as her first 'Canicross' race with her beloved hound.

North to Robin Hood's Bay

Where's the path gone?.. One of the landslips we skirted around!

Getting closer.

We left the cliffs to descend down into the wonderfully titled 'Boggle Hole' which was alive with ice-cream eating tourists all bemused at the steady stream of runners coming through the village: down one side and up the other, although their welcome encouraging claps and cheers helped us onwards.

Just after this point the halfers bore left and it was just us marathoners who continued in to Robin Hood's Bay and the fearsomely steep climb through the town to the top and CP2. At this point I could see some of the ultra's returning from this top loop so figured that it was a good 30 minute/ 3 mile trek to get back here.

Where we left the coast.

After about 1.5 miles we left the coast for good, with a very steep ascent next to some stunning cliff-faces and with a beautiful view down on to where we had just been running we headed inland and off to the moors via bridleway and farmland.

Looking down to where we had just come from.

This particular stretch was the 'uninspiring' section. It seems all the races seem to have a bit of these to link-up the beautiful sights of wilderness, so you accept these for what they are - a bridge to the next good bit.

After CP4 we hit the moors. At this point, you could see the runners stretching out in front of us. I had been running and chatting with one lady who had overtaken us and we had jockeyed position a few times before she steamed-off on the moors into the distance. One guy had been catching me up to the point I was holding the gates open for him as he kept catching-up, although at this point I began to drop him, and in turn be overtaken by another lady who seemed to be having a strong final section of the race.

Across the moor to the antenna.

The navigation of the moor was simple: head for the TV antenna and descend just past it! This was the fun part and I soon found myself picking-up speed and overtaking some people myself, including some of the halters, which was a terrific confidence boost. Once off the moor it was a simple task of following the signposts back in to Ravenscar and the finish line, the last 2 miles being up hill.

Me in action across the moor as one of my friends from uni days said: 'rocking the pirate look'. Thanks Kate!

I crossed the finish line safely in the middle of the pack to complete 6 of 7 of this year's coastal trail series, with the next marathon being the final CTS race of the season in Flete.

I sat down at a picnic table on the old Ravenscar station platform and enjoyed my post-race recovery shake and scotch-eggs. After changing, breaking with 'tradition' I drove home in a oner after stopping for fuel in Scarborough seeing as the in-laws were down for the week and I did not want to miss quality time with them.