Same routine this morning - up at 6.15 then down for food at 7 followed by registration, kit check and safety briefing. A few were now in need of medical attention for blisters, sore knees and such like so the on-hand VOTWO medic was certainly kept busy. I only had a few scratches to show for my efforts yesterday and although I was tired, as is now becoming usual, I didn't ache (well, sat down I didn't, not sure what was going to happen when I try to get into a pace faster than a walk).
Amazingly the sun was out and there was very little wind - it was supposed to be almost 30 degrees down in Bournemouth : certainly wouldn't be anywhere near that in Wales but sun would be nice for a change!?
By 8.30 everyone was milling around outside the hostel 'raring' to go and the sun had gone, replaced once again by fine mist. And off we went, back down the road to the coast once again. The first few miles were over gently rolling heather clad hills before we started to climb on a quiet lane towards Holyhead Mountain. Here the sea mist really rolled in. Melissa, Max and Jenni were well ahead already and there was a 'gang' of around 10 several minutes behind me. It was like running in a snowglobe - I could only see around 15" all around me and this area of visibility moved when you did. Luckily the footpath itself was pretty well marked across the mountain either by slabs of rock or regular posts with the familiar tern. The checkpoint was supposed to be around 9km into the route so when my garmin showed almost 8 miles, I was beginning to panic...seriously! I'd gone all the way up, over and down the mountain yet still hadn't come across anywhere (within my 15" of visibility) where a checkpoint could be. Hadn't seen anyone else for the last hour so it was a huge relief to finally see the USN banner.
It was then a relatively flat run around Holyhead itself before running down the side of the ferry port to once again pick up the coastal path. Just before checkpoint 2 the path went through the woodland of Penrhos Coast Park where I passed a mass graveyard for pets! You never know what you'll encounter...
After refuelling, it was then a very long stretch along the shoreline so by now I'm getting pretty adept at rock scrambling! Max was having real trouble with his hip and I caught up with him fairly quickly. Andy also had a quick pit stop behind me at the checkpoint and then caught the two of us up as we were trying to decipher where the path went once we got to the end of the muddy estuary...apparently straight through it and then up over a field of young heifers! At least that's the route we took.
We then caught up and passed a guy who hadn't been infront of us before so again, people were having trouble reading the map or missing signs but that's not the point of the event - just to finish, via whatever route, is a success. It was here that Max dropped back quickly, experiencing a lot of pain with his hip.
After reaching the small village of Llanfrachraeth, Andy and I hit yet another estuary so yet more running in bogs before reaching the long sandy beach with great views back to Holyhead on our left. The sun was also starting to break through the temperature began to creep up quite quickly. The route now took us through a variety of grassy fields and dramatic cliff tops with several drop downs to quiet little coves and beaches. The fuel tank suddenly got very empty and we were hoping (against hope) that the next checkpoint would be over the next hill....then the next...and the next until finally I dragged my weary body into the welcome car park at Church Cove. After scoffing a cheese sandwich, coke and plenty of biscuits and jelly babies I reluctantly ventured out again just as Andy came round the corner into the car park looking just as exhausted as I had 5 minutes ago. That was a long 19k section from checkpoint 2.
Refreshed I seem to have a bit of extra spring in my step and quickly covered the next few miles. A 'wow' moment welcomed me around 3 miles after the checkpoint where I suddenly had to work my way round a maze of brightly coloured heather and gorse bushes : every variation of purple was here, before dropping down a steep slope to be faced with a rock walled reservoir and a thick forest of pine trees. I could have been in Scotland rather than North West Wales. All I needed was a red deer stag to complete the picture.
After this the terrain reverted to gently rolling pastures filled with sheep and cows...up, down, up, down. Once again my garmin ran out despite my willing it to hold on for just a few more miles. It already registered 29.97 miles covered in 6h 30m so today was going to be the furthest I had ever run in one event. A couple passed me going in the opposite direction and announced I was in "bronze medal position" which had a nice Olympic ring to it!
Eventually the very welcome sight of the VOTWO banners came into sight on my right but cruelly, I had to continue to run straight ahead through another couple of fields before then turning right then right again to reach the finish. Melissa and Jenni had, amazingly, finished almost an hour before. Then I tucked into the food and hot soup and laid out in the sun waiting for the others and cheering them home. Karl was next home.
Massive ultra distance today of 32 miles in exactly 7:00, finishing in 3rd place.
After a couple of hours there were enough of us home to fill one of the mini-buses back to base with first priority being a lovely cuppa! I decided that, although I wasn't particularly sore (other than now having quite a number of cuts to my legs from the brambles, twigs, heather, horseflies and other biting and scratching things) it might be prudent to have a massage to give myself a better chance of not being too stiff tomorrow and this turned out to be quite a wise move and a well spent £12! 30 minutes later I was feeling much better and after everyone had returned and chilled out for a bit, 7 of us headed back down to The Paddlers Return for some much needed food and hydration and sharing of the day's war stories! Turned into a right party and we didn't roll into bed until the unearthly hour of 9pm!!
Wednesday 29 August 2012
Tuesday 28 August 2012
Marathon # 8 - Anglesey Coastal Challenge (part I)!
Thursday 19 July saw me leaving work at lunchtime and heading to the most north western part of Wales...Anglesey, or to be more precise, Holyhead. 320 miles later I arrived, in the rain, at the outdoor centre that would be my home for the next 3 nights. After making myself comfy I headed down to the onsite 'bar' where I was very surprised to enjoy a great home-cooked pasta meal then, after packing my mandatory kit into my backpack, I turned in for the night...at all of 9pm!
Didn't actually get that much sleep : my head was right next to the shared toilet and clearly lots of people were really hydrated as there were quite a few nightly visits! It also poured with rain all night...great!
Up at 6.15 for a shower then headed downstairs to meet the rest of the guys who had accepted the challenge...all 24 of them (surprisingly there was an equal split of male / female so this should be interesting!) and enjoy a full cooked breakfast before the mandatory kit check and safety briefing. It was still raining.
Just after 8.30 we set off in minibuses for the start of today's challenge at Aberffraw. The Anglesey Coast Path isn't as undulating as the Jurassic but there were to be plenty of changes in terrain, starting with sand dunes and a little jaunt along the beach itself. Wasn't long before we were soaked from head to toe as we encountered a huge flood in the first couple of miles and no way was there any opt out option! Most people were getting to know each other and chit chatting, and with that comes the 'follow the leader' mentality with the result that most of us missed a vital turning and got lost...not to worry, we climbed over a couple of barbed wire fences and headed towards the cliffs once again and picked up the coastal path.
Between check points one / two we had to skirt around the now famous airfield of RAF Valley (where Wills is based!)..Kate did invite us in for a bacon sarnie but we politely declined as we had a challenge to complete! At points a few of us were running together, trying to ensure we stayed on the right path so there were plenty of stop / starts to check out the map and ask directions from locals but at other times I would find myself running on my own. Parts of the route were really coastal ie they were under water and I don't believe they ever dried out enough to really call it a footpath - you would need waders!
The weather was still pretty bad : very low cloud and plenty of drizzle but it certainly wasn't cold at all. At one point I tripped over a grassy tussock and fell flat on my face (didn't even have time to put my hand out to break my fall), but luckily only my pride was hurt. I was running with a guy called Andy at the time who apparently was always falling over - he thought it hilarious that someone else was doing that instead and promptly told me to tell his friend Melissa (who was an amazingly fast runner and left the rest of us all for dead each day!) that for once, he wasn't the one dusting himself down....I turned around to thank him, only to find him flat on his face having fallen over exactly the same clump of grass :o) nice one Andy!
Despite the lack of really hilly terrain, the fact that it was so challenging to run on meant that it took so long to complete each day. My Garmin actually ran out of life after I hit 25 miles and I was still a long way from the day's finish line. In the last few miles we kept having to deviate from the road to do a small circular route on the cliff top in order to truly follow the coastal path but again, had to keep your eyes peeled for the Arctic Tern route signs in order that you didn't go the wrong way....by the end of the day a lot of people had totally different distances registering on their watches!
The finish for day one was back at the Outdoor Centre and the last 1/2 mile certainly felt a lot further than it was signed! Melissa finished almost an hour before me and I came in joint 4th! The field were definitely well spread out and by the end of the first day we unfortunately had two casualties..not injured but pulled out as they had got quite drastically lost whilst walking the route, ending up at checkpoint 2 but for day 2 rather than checkpoint 3 for day one....oops!
Definitely more than the expected 26.2 miles : today was confirmed as 30 miles which I had covered in 5:44.
After a lovely welcome cuppa tea and shower, a group of us trekked all of 100m down to the bar for another scrummy meal and review of the day's war stories before I was tucked up in bed well before 9! It's still pouring with rain and blowing a gale out there!
Didn't actually get that much sleep : my head was right next to the shared toilet and clearly lots of people were really hydrated as there were quite a few nightly visits! It also poured with rain all night...great!
Up at 6.15 for a shower then headed downstairs to meet the rest of the guys who had accepted the challenge...all 24 of them (surprisingly there was an equal split of male / female so this should be interesting!) and enjoy a full cooked breakfast before the mandatory kit check and safety briefing. It was still raining.
Just after 8.30 we set off in minibuses for the start of today's challenge at Aberffraw. The Anglesey Coast Path isn't as undulating as the Jurassic but there were to be plenty of changes in terrain, starting with sand dunes and a little jaunt along the beach itself. Wasn't long before we were soaked from head to toe as we encountered a huge flood in the first couple of miles and no way was there any opt out option! Most people were getting to know each other and chit chatting, and with that comes the 'follow the leader' mentality with the result that most of us missed a vital turning and got lost...not to worry, we climbed over a couple of barbed wire fences and headed towards the cliffs once again and picked up the coastal path.
Between check points one / two we had to skirt around the now famous airfield of RAF Valley (where Wills is based!)..Kate did invite us in for a bacon sarnie but we politely declined as we had a challenge to complete! At points a few of us were running together, trying to ensure we stayed on the right path so there were plenty of stop / starts to check out the map and ask directions from locals but at other times I would find myself running on my own. Parts of the route were really coastal ie they were under water and I don't believe they ever dried out enough to really call it a footpath - you would need waders!
The weather was still pretty bad : very low cloud and plenty of drizzle but it certainly wasn't cold at all. At one point I tripped over a grassy tussock and fell flat on my face (didn't even have time to put my hand out to break my fall), but luckily only my pride was hurt. I was running with a guy called Andy at the time who apparently was always falling over - he thought it hilarious that someone else was doing that instead and promptly told me to tell his friend Melissa (who was an amazingly fast runner and left the rest of us all for dead each day!) that for once, he wasn't the one dusting himself down....I turned around to thank him, only to find him flat on his face having fallen over exactly the same clump of grass :o) nice one Andy!
Despite the lack of really hilly terrain, the fact that it was so challenging to run on meant that it took so long to complete each day. My Garmin actually ran out of life after I hit 25 miles and I was still a long way from the day's finish line. In the last few miles we kept having to deviate from the road to do a small circular route on the cliff top in order to truly follow the coastal path but again, had to keep your eyes peeled for the Arctic Tern route signs in order that you didn't go the wrong way....by the end of the day a lot of people had totally different distances registering on their watches!
The finish for day one was back at the Outdoor Centre and the last 1/2 mile certainly felt a lot further than it was signed! Melissa finished almost an hour before me and I came in joint 4th! The field were definitely well spread out and by the end of the first day we unfortunately had two casualties..not injured but pulled out as they had got quite drastically lost whilst walking the route, ending up at checkpoint 2 but for day 2 rather than checkpoint 3 for day one....oops!
Definitely more than the expected 26.2 miles : today was confirmed as 30 miles which I had covered in 5:44.
After a lovely welcome cuppa tea and shower, a group of us trekked all of 100m down to the bar for another scrummy meal and review of the day's war stories before I was tucked up in bed well before 9! It's still pouring with rain and blowing a gale out there!
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Marathon # 7 - Salisbury 54321
OK, so I've had a bit of a breather since my last marathon but now they really kick off....4 in one week to start with! I honestly didn't plan it this way - it just sort of happened. I'd already entered the Anglesey Coastal Challenge as I'd already completed the Jurassic one but I then entered the Salisbury 54321 as I just love this little jaunt in the Wiltshire countryside - it just so happened that after I'd entered, it dawned on me that they were all in the same week...oh well, no pain, no gain!
The 54321 is so called as it crosses 5 rivers, 4 hills, 3 large country estates, 2 castles and 1 cathedral and is extremely popular, catering not just for marathon runners but also a 50k, 30k, 20k and 10k option for runners and walkers.
There was a very quick sharp shower about 15 minutes before the 'off' and Pat, Caro, Dory and I just sat in the car waiting for it to stop but after that the weather was just about perfect for the rest of the day. After launching ourselves up the slippery chalk slopes of Old Sarum castle, we then joined the Clarendon Way for a while before dropping down to run through the amazing private estate of Longford, complete with a castle and clear chalk river where plenty of huge trout could be seen from the bridge as you run over. After this we crossed the main A338 (still early Sunday morning so very little traffic around as 'normal' people would only just be getting up and having breakfast!) and picked up the Avon Valley Path. By this stage I'd only seen one other female runner who had passed me around 3 miles but just as I hit the slow slog uphill to Clearbury Ring another absolutely flew past me and disappeared in a cloud of dust! However, not long afterwards I caught up and passed the woman who had originally overtook me.
After hitting Clearbury Ring where there was a very welcome water / jelly baby station, it was a fantastic run steeply downhill through a wild flower meadow adorned with loads of different kinds of butterflies to then run along a grassy track and eventually to a Swiss-style cottage and a thick yew tree forest straight from a fairy tale. Another refreshment station, this time serving huge chunks of bread pudding before heading into the forest, so thick that you would quickly lose your way had it not been for a piece of red string that you had to follow! I went through a really tough period here, feeling as if I had absolutely no energy and could hardly put one foot infront of the other and whilst it lasted for around a mile, it passed eventually and by the time I hit the road section again, all was OK.
A lovely long downhill into Coombe Bissett and the next water station before a long draining uphill to Salisbury racecourse then across fields before dropping down into Wilton. After this it was a couple of miles on quiet country lanes and a nature reserve before reaching the outskirts of Salisbury. I still hadn't seen another female runner and even the blokes were few and far between and those appeared to be the same ones either overtaking me or me overtaking them!
By the time I reached Salisbury cathedral, the 'normal' people had clearly got out of bed, eaten their breakfast and decided to invade Salisbury for the day...it was packed and would they move out of the way for a runner?!?! Would they heck....by this time I was really tired so my 'excuse me' soon turned into more of an angry 'MOVE' sort of request! Students were the worst...they take up the whole pavement and just walk into you...can't they see or something? Do they assume I'm going to suddenly leapfrog them?
Anyway, I made it back to the finish in one piece and then went to congratulate the woman who had shot past me at Clearbury Ring only for her to tell me that I was 2nd! OMG!! I've never come 2nd before in a race...ever!
Shortly afterwards I collected my prize of a lovely medal embossed with flames in the 5 Olympic colours so very topical bearing in mind the amazing London 2012 Olympics finished on the same day.
So, number 7 duly completed...I'm still in one piece and writing this 3 days later, can confirm that I didn't ache too much afterwards and managed (sort of) to do a speed session yesterday.
I also received the final information pack for this weekend's Anglesey marathons...for the Jurassic there had been a mix of around 200 or so walkers / runners tackling the event but this weekend there's a massive.....25!!! Definitely going to be the 'loneliness of the long distance runner' me feels this time round...imagine if 24 of them were walkers and I was the only one running...I'm sure that won't happen and there will be quite a few running but it's a long way to drive tomorrow if that is the case!
I'll let you know!
The 54321 is so called as it crosses 5 rivers, 4 hills, 3 large country estates, 2 castles and 1 cathedral and is extremely popular, catering not just for marathon runners but also a 50k, 30k, 20k and 10k option for runners and walkers.
There was a very quick sharp shower about 15 minutes before the 'off' and Pat, Caro, Dory and I just sat in the car waiting for it to stop but after that the weather was just about perfect for the rest of the day. After launching ourselves up the slippery chalk slopes of Old Sarum castle, we then joined the Clarendon Way for a while before dropping down to run through the amazing private estate of Longford, complete with a castle and clear chalk river where plenty of huge trout could be seen from the bridge as you run over. After this we crossed the main A338 (still early Sunday morning so very little traffic around as 'normal' people would only just be getting up and having breakfast!) and picked up the Avon Valley Path. By this stage I'd only seen one other female runner who had passed me around 3 miles but just as I hit the slow slog uphill to Clearbury Ring another absolutely flew past me and disappeared in a cloud of dust! However, not long afterwards I caught up and passed the woman who had originally overtook me.
After hitting Clearbury Ring where there was a very welcome water / jelly baby station, it was a fantastic run steeply downhill through a wild flower meadow adorned with loads of different kinds of butterflies to then run along a grassy track and eventually to a Swiss-style cottage and a thick yew tree forest straight from a fairy tale. Another refreshment station, this time serving huge chunks of bread pudding before heading into the forest, so thick that you would quickly lose your way had it not been for a piece of red string that you had to follow! I went through a really tough period here, feeling as if I had absolutely no energy and could hardly put one foot infront of the other and whilst it lasted for around a mile, it passed eventually and by the time I hit the road section again, all was OK.
A lovely long downhill into Coombe Bissett and the next water station before a long draining uphill to Salisbury racecourse then across fields before dropping down into Wilton. After this it was a couple of miles on quiet country lanes and a nature reserve before reaching the outskirts of Salisbury. I still hadn't seen another female runner and even the blokes were few and far between and those appeared to be the same ones either overtaking me or me overtaking them!
By the time I reached Salisbury cathedral, the 'normal' people had clearly got out of bed, eaten their breakfast and decided to invade Salisbury for the day...it was packed and would they move out of the way for a runner?!?! Would they heck....by this time I was really tired so my 'excuse me' soon turned into more of an angry 'MOVE' sort of request! Students were the worst...they take up the whole pavement and just walk into you...can't they see or something? Do they assume I'm going to suddenly leapfrog them?
Anyway, I made it back to the finish in one piece and then went to congratulate the woman who had shot past me at Clearbury Ring only for her to tell me that I was 2nd! OMG!! I've never come 2nd before in a race...ever!
Shortly afterwards I collected my prize of a lovely medal embossed with flames in the 5 Olympic colours so very topical bearing in mind the amazing London 2012 Olympics finished on the same day.
So, number 7 duly completed...I'm still in one piece and writing this 3 days later, can confirm that I didn't ache too much afterwards and managed (sort of) to do a speed session yesterday.
I also received the final information pack for this weekend's Anglesey marathons...for the Jurassic there had been a mix of around 200 or so walkers / runners tackling the event but this weekend there's a massive.....25!!! Definitely going to be the 'loneliness of the long distance runner' me feels this time round...imagine if 24 of them were walkers and I was the only one running...I'm sure that won't happen and there will be quite a few running but it's a long way to drive tomorrow if that is the case!
I'll let you know!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)