Buxworth 5 Road Race

Last night was a race in the Glossopdale Harriers club champs - Buxworth 5. That's 5 miles, so in my money 8km and with 988ft/301m of ascent. Not ideally placed in my training plan with only 10 days until my marathon. However, if I want to take part in the club champs (and I do) I pretty much had to do it due to diary commitments later in the year meaning I may not qualify if I can't do enough races. Road races aren't my thing either. But, I decided to just have an easy run round. Yeah right!

There is some magical mystery that I call 'Power of the Pins'. Whenever I stick a race number on my club vest the competitive sparkle appears. I don't mean it to. I don't even know it's happening. It just does. In this race I really did intend to just have an easy run out. After the usual pre-race socialising we all made our way to the start about 600m from the Navigation Inn in Buxworth.

The race essentially goes up for about 4km to the top of Eccles Pike, down for about 2.5km then back to the finish along the flat tramway. I'd placed myself pretty much at the back of the pack on the start line. No point being trampled. Soon enough we're off and I stick to an easy pace but am passing people. No sign of any other Glossopdalers. Then on the first ascent I see John S....I seem to be catching. And I pass. Hmmm. Have I set off too quick? Then I spot Sharn and am closing the gap. Not intentionally, I really am sticking to a pace I can breathe and keep going up the hill. the route levels out a bit as you pass a row of houses....somewhere here I pass Sharn and really start to be concerned I'm going too fast.

Next is a sharp right and up....and up and up and up. My that hill went on a long way. I did a good few sections walking, running a short way, short walk, short run. I didn't know the route so every time it levelled out a bit I wondered....is this the top?  Quick check on my watch...no....not gone far enough yet. Eventually I see the sign for "Eccles Pike"....yey, the top! Checking behind I can't see any Glossopdale vests but I know I need to stay on it or I could easily lose my place on the descent.

Down we go. A horrible steep drop where I just don't feel relaxed. The tarmac is just too hard and I don't want to push and slap my feet down hard. I'm so not used to this pace! I seem to be holding my place for a while, sticking with a chap ahead. Then I'm charged down by a yellow vest and I try to stay with him as the road does a cruel kicker up a short hill.  I cross the bridge over the A6 knowing I'm in the final 2km. Watch check, maybe another 10mins to go.

Past the Old Hall and great words of encouragement from the supporters outside the pub. Then down a bit more and left onto the final straight. It's a long straight. About 1.6km. A woman comes past me somewhere and I know I can't push to keep up. Checking my pace I'm around 4:30min/km....a lot faster than I wanted to be going so I keep myself in check. A chap comes past and between us we seem to be catching someone. it's a woman. Could I get past? Distance check. 700m to go. Not yet. 600m to go. Not yet. We re-pass the start line and I'm almost with her. There's Nev taking photos and shouting something at me....thanks for the encouragement. I have about 300m to go....slowly edge past her and then just have to hold her off. Where was this easy run I was going to have?

Final 300m to go and the Buxton lady I got past
Thanks for the photo Nev

Then the finish line comes into view. I look for familiar faces to indicate if she's right with me or I can relax. No-one there!? Nothing for it but to keep pushing. Urgh this hurts. Through the finish line and I know I can't stop or I'll cramp. I swipe a glass of water and keep walking. The gaggle of Glossopdalers are all there chatting away and I walk past just needing to keep my legs moving. I do a loop through the car park and back to the finish line a little more composed hoping to see Sharn and John S come in but I've missed them! Clearly they weren't very far behind me.

Phew! Looks like I need more discipline if I'm actually going to have an easy run when I enter a race! Thanks to Nev and Clive for their support even though not running, to the race organiser and all the marshals for a super evening. At the time of writing there results aren't out. My watch clocked about 42mins of moving time, bang on 8km and only 240m ascent. Not that I'm complaining about the missing 61m....it certainly didn't feel like I did less than the advertised 300m!!!

Kinder Downfall Fell Race 2015

Wormstones catching the morning sun as
I run towards Chunal Cabin

The training for my marathon is going well and it's amazing to think that 3 years ago just running this 16km fell race was a daunting prospect. So imagine how chuffed I feel today for deciding to run from Glossop to Hayfield, and then run the race today!

The flagstones towards Mill Hill

I set off at about 8.15am, giving myself plenty of time to do the 13-14km route over to Hayfield in time for the 11.30am race start. Knowing I'd be running about 30km today I took it steady, walking most of the uphill sections up to Chunal Cabin, and up to the flags on Mill Hill. Then I settled into a great rhythm on the flags (pausing only to take photos), running all the way up to Mill Hill and down to the bottom of the steep climb onto the Kinder Plateau. I can't (yet) run all the way up the steep section there, but I picked out a big stone that I'd aim for in the race and managed to run to it on the way over. Just another 150 paces and I'd be at the top. It was actually really good to do a recce on race day, and the temptation to just keep running round the edge path was really strong as I approached Sandy Heys. I'd only seen a couple of walkers and the way ahead was basking in sunny solitude...a bit different to how it would be in a few hours. But, the race was entered, and it is a club champs counter so down the hill I went.

Kinder corner....the final steep climb onto the plateau

From the bottom of Sandy Heys/William Clough I took the race route backwards....up to the White Cabin and down the Snake Path. The 13km or so route took me just under 2 hours. A super run over in glorious t-shirt sunshine, just a little chilly so gloves mostly on. I arrived into Hayfield and made my way to the scout hut. Lovely to bump into Hayley and have a chat, then onto registration via the ever-tempting Pete Bland sales....and yes, a new pair of shoes. Mudclaw 300s for me, pair #2. They'll be stored until the autumn.

Snake Path and White cabin in distance

The usual lovely pre-race banter ensued and I changed my top layers for fresh dry ones. I reckon the wind picked up a bit too before the race started so arm warmers back on, but jacket stashed. Dave Soles did a great pre-race start speech....the main take away was don't dilly-dally on the route as he wanted to be in the pub watching football later in the afternoon!

Soon enough there was the bustle of runners squeezing up the road to pick up the Snake Path. I always feel like there's a surge of everyone coming past me in the start of a race, but I settled into my own pace and managed to run to the first stile. I then did a run-walk-run-walk strategy (aka getting out of breathe then trying and failing to recover my breathing) all the way to the White Cabin. Various Glossopdale Harriers were just in sight ahead of me, but they all just stretched out the gap between us.

I wanted to push a little on here but my legs felt heavy. I know that the trod down to the bottom of William Clough offers few passing places, but I seemed to have found my pace and didn't actually need to pass except one person. Next comes the uphill section in William

the start of William Clough

Diagonal descent to bottom of
William Clough

Clough. Fairly dry today so plenty of choices to make on the route. Soon enough the steps at the top came, various comments were made about how tough it was from my fellow racers around me, but to be honest it wasn't as bad as I remembered it from 2012. Up to the finger post, thank you to the marshals, and on to the steep climb onto Kinder plateau. I made it running to my big stone, then continued to walk all the way to the top, 150 paces just as recced a few hours earlier. Thanks to Jude for the water, much appreciated.

The edge path should, essentially be relatively easy but you need total focus on the stones, lose rocks and lumps and bumps that you pass over. At some point here I was joined by Stagger of the forum and we exchanged conversation most of the way round to somewhere near Red Brook. I just couldn't shake him! My legs felt heavy and I was conscious that I could run out of water. Hmmm.

View from Sandy Heys over to Red Brook earlier in the morning 

View from Sandy Heys with South Head and the dragons
back in the distance (taken earlier in the morning)

At Kinder Downfall I was buoyed by Harshan taking photos - thanks for the big cheer, it really did pick me up. I traded places with a few runners around me, conscious that if I relaxed too much I'd slip further and just want to sit down. The temptation to stop and take photos was immense. I resisted. Next up was Kinder Low trig and then a hello to a friends son, duly on duty with jelly babies for his mum. Down the flags and I run on the soft edges catching a lady. We chat a bit (good luck with your 12hr race next week) then I pass and just eek a few metres ahead on the approach to Edale Cross.

Around here I hear a familiar voice....Nev urging me on, well it worked as although he passed me I managed to stay in touch with him down the grassy path, over the stile (hi to Geoff marshaling) across the traverse trod and into the fields. I'm flagging and fading quite nicely by now, but its too late to try and dig out some food. I have a little water left so refresh my mouth and push on. I tell Nev I'll see him at the end but in the first field I feel good and open up my stride and seem to be catching...I wonder if I can make that stile before him....push push push and I do! and the next stile...and the next. In fact I keep Nev just on my heals all the way down until we pass the Luvshack and hit the hard surface of the road. Here Nev pulls away from me a little and I let him. Legs are heavy and I don't want to end up walking in to the end so with about 2km left I get into a pace I can hold on with.

Nev is only just ahead by 20-25m. He says he'll pick off a few runners now so I keep the distance in check and sure enough I think we overtake 2 or 3 runners. I'd like to think that I could have got past Nev in the playground but he's experienced and I know he'll have something left for the finish straight so I give him the place and just concentrate on not stopping. I can't now anyway, there's a whole gaggle of Glossopdale Harriers shouting me in, Tim's voice the loudest!! Thanks, I definitely can't stop with such support bringing me in.

Round the corner and into the finish line. Apologies if I ignored anyone there or in the field....I found myself

thanks to MossieNet for the photo
www.flickr.com/photos/mossienetphotography/

on the floor wanting to recover but ended up with cramp in my right leg. There followed a comedic conversation with Tim telling me to 'just stand up' and me replying 'not on your nelly' (maybe not so politely). A good few moments passed and I'd recovered a little. There's some good chat but soon feeling cold me and Tim head back to the scout hut to change. Cake and a drink, sunshine and results, more delightful chat and then we're done. My time wasn't on the board when we left. Tim did astounding given he ran the Three Peaks yesterday, coming in 21st today. Good to see all my fell running friends out having a blast on such a glorious sunshine day. Thank you to Dave, the marshals, tea and cake people and everyone else that got this race happening.

I'm raising funds for Glossop Mountain Rescue Team by running the Howgills Trail 26 marathon (3 weeks today) - head over to Just Giving if you'd like to sponsor me, thank you!

*Update*
Full results now published, my official time is 1:54:19, and 220th/266.  In 2012 when I last did this race I was 245th/272 in 1:53:39. So, 40secs slower this time, but I did do a 13km warm up run over to the start line! Well pleased :)

MDOC Street League 2013-14 - Event 4 - Glossop

Last night saw the coming together of 40-odd fluorescent clad runners in Glossop.  It was the 4th event for the Manchester District Orienteering Club (MDOC) in their Street League and being on my doorstep it was perfectly located. Ten Glossopdale Harriers were in the event so it was going to be a good test of local knowledge. I was taking part for fun with no expectation of getting a good rank, but as it turned out I was first Glossopdale in the Handicap results. I'm very happy with that, especially after a slight disappointment of losing 50 points - three incorrect check points to blame for there!.

Starting from Norfolk Square the event was very friendly and relaxed. No mass start, just each person dibbing in turn at the start, being handed a map and setting of in a direction of their choosing. I left just before Tim and decided to head onto very much home turf...up onto Shirebrook. I was initially confused by the scale of the map (1:12500) - twice as big as I'm used to looking at. The map also doesn't have street names, or major landmarks like churches so even for locals there is some element of challenge.

Then came the route choice decisions to get the best point values, remembering what some of the clues meant, such as 'H on TP', and occasionally getting slightly (but temporarily) displaced. So much for local knowledge helping! I think the pressure of 'racing', even though I wasn't, and the clock ticking caused a few not-so-intelligent route choices. I didn't make any major errors, but could have definitely been slicker in places.

Anyway, I cleared all of the check points on Shirebrook, took a couple near Pye Grove then over the very muddy fields to Old Glossop. I cleared all but one in that area then got a couple more around High Street East (should have got those on the way up to Shirebrook). I kept a watchful eye on the clock, still enough time to grab some more. I do find it hard to judge distance and approximate travel time whilst on the move...that's the pressure of racing that must surely get easier with more practice.

I then worked my way around the cricket ground, finding a path I've never been down before, under the railway to the football ground then grabbed a couple more CPs off High Street West before heading back to the finish. A very welcome mince pie was awarded to all finishers, Tim coming in just a few minutes after me and looking like he was going the win the prize for muddiest runner of the night.

Looking at the map afterwards I could have got more points by going that little bit further (the beauty of slow deliberation over a pint!). Again, more experience gives you the confidence to make those decisions. But, I only had 4 minutes spare so I'm pleased with what I did. Totting up my score afterwards I had a healthy 990 points...reduced to 940 for the incorrect three CPs.

Provisional results are on the MDOC website here. I hadn't realised that the final positions would be based on points per hour...so the guy who came first only went out for 45 minutes. Good to see a few youngsters out with parents, and several familiar faces from Pennine, Stockport and Goyt. Many thanks to Grahame (organiser) and his band of helpers, superb event - can we have another in Glossop soon?

Here's a link to Tim's blog about this event.

Dove Stone Diamond 10k

The Dove Stone Diamond is marketed by Kiwi Classic Events as "a scenic and undulating 10K multi terrain route with approx 500ft of climbing" and it didn't disappoint. I did a recce the route about a month ago after learning that I prefer to know what's coming up in a race. I'd got the route in my head. I know the scenery is lovely. Even the rain didn't spoil that. It did however mean that the parch dry mud patches I had previously experienced were now 6 inch deep shoe sucking mud puddles. Shoe choice was a dilemma for some. I opted for my kanadias knowing I'd enjoy the additional comfort once on the road and trail around the reservoir.

So I was expecting a big turn out, mud, rain, wind, a tough first climb, relative enjoyment on the way through the forest and across to the tarmac, then sticking it out on the flat section hoping to pick up some speed. There was some jostling as we set off - the path gradually narrows and with a field of 200? or so there inevitably was going to be some elbow jabbing and shin kicking. Nothing unfriendly I should add, all within the spirit of a race.

The first climb came, I settled into a pace I could sustain and didn't seem to be holding too many people up. I was overtaken by a few, and on the rocky section even overtook a few myself. A bit of leapfrogging took place too, and a lot of huffing and puffing. My exerted breathing was in perfect time with another runner for a few minutes, small things you notice and smile at in a race! At the sharp left turn I felt pleased with my pace and started to attempt to recover my breathing as the climb levelled and undulated through the forest.

But, it wasn't to be. Instead I got stitch. Not horrendously bad to cause me to stop running entirely, but enough to slow me to a demoralising walking pace several times. I then discovered I'd pressed start then stop on my watch so had no idea how far or long I'd been going. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger. I quickly restarted the watch and handily came upon a 2km sign. At least I knew how much distance to add, but my target was hopefully going to be a sub-1 hour and I had to guess how long I'd been going. I reckoned 12 minutes.

Across the path the runners snaked out, I was passed by Nev, John (well done on dancing round in road shoes) and Neil along here. Each offering words of encouragement. Thanks guys. If only you'd had a magic wand to remove the pain in my chest/lungs - I couldn't work out exactly where the pain was coming from but something inside hurt.

I walked the climb up from the river to the road, marshals offering further words of encouragement - thanks for standing in the rain for us. Trying to calculate time/distance etc I opened up my stride as much as possible on the downhill, hugging the small grass verge rather than running on the gravel and tarmac. Words were exchanged with another runner about the difference in weather from last year - apparently it was sunny. We leapfrogged a bit, but she won out in the end. I just couldn't pick up speed even on the flat around the reservoir. There was also a punishing headwind as we ran towards the far end of the reservoir - cruelty for my lungs.

Turning at the far end I'm hopeful of coming in under an hour. The pain is bearable and I continue to ignore it. Only dropping down the steep grassy dam wall did I begin to feel OK. Typical. Just 1km left and I finally feel like I've warmed up my lungs and got myself going. I push on, tentative and careful steps over the slippy wooden bridges and the cattle grid. Into the darkness of the last gluppy muddy section. Not a care in the world I splash through the ankle deep mud. The drier section to the right was equally as dangerous with tree roots sticking out and now barely visible in the fading light.

The clock came into view, weirdly positioned about 50m from the actual finish line - I read it as 59:?? and with the massive cheers of the waiting Glossopdale gang I pushed to the finish funnel. I'm pretty sure I got a sub-1 hour finish. My fellow runners tell me the clock was actually 58:?? as I passed it. Official results are yet to be issued but my position was 156th.

Glossopdale Harriers bagged three prizes - congratulations to Caity for first lady in a most impressive sub45mins (to be confirmed - is it a course record?), Nev for first V65 and Vaughan in first V60. Well done to Becky for running her first trail race - brilliant running, and Rachel for the fastest sprint finish of everyone. Good running by all of us on an excellent course. Next time I hope there's no stitch to contend with.

There may be some photos to follow....and I'll update with official results once they're published.

PS> official results are out....my time is 00:58:56.220 Lynne Taylor F35 Glossopdale Harriers

Salford 10km Race

My first ever road race. 10 kilometres of tarmac round Salford. A glorious sunshine, blue sky day at the end of March and a wonderful social occasion with 16 Glossopdale Harriers on the entry list. No wonder with it being the first counter in our road, cross-country and trail championship. I'm not really expecting to score highly on this, but to be honest I probably stand a better chance of gaining points in this championship than the fell one (heavy lean towards longer races, and races further from home - neither my personal preference).

With lifts organised (thanks to John for mine) for everyone we all congregated in the registration room. My first challenge was securing a timing chip - someone had mysteriously taken mine so I was no longer going to be "154" and number buddy with two club mates. Oh well, twenty minutes later and thanks to the wonderful ladies on registration I was now "118".

There was chatter about what kit to wear, long sleeved or just club vest? Gloves/no gloves? Nothing to change for me. I knew the temperature outside was chilly, warming a little in the sun. But I'd decided on my kit, only minor change was ditching the hat owing to the addition of warmth - no icy wind I'm used to on the hill.

Next was warm up. I'd already had a foam roller session at home while I waited for my lift. This was a gentle jog up and down the road, plus some instruction from Caity on gradually increasing speed and high knee lifts.

Soon enough there's a gathering of runners in the road...we'd spied a vague line across the road but I was surprised there wasn't any "Start" sign - no timing mats either? Apparently there was a quick speech by the race starter but to be honest in the middle of the huddle I heard nothing. The next thing I knew was runners were speeding ahead of me...so I followed and quickly remembered to start my garmin.

Now, I've never run a 10km road race before. In fact no 10km race at all. Fell races are usually a random distance. So, I had no idea what time I would run. The club 10km handicap race has been held a couple of times this year but I've always been working. I've run the route which includes two hills, one that drags for 2.5km, and my time was about 57 minutes. I'm reliably informed at least 2 minutes can be taken off for the hills, so my aim was a sub 55 race. My target for the year is sub 50, but I didn't think I had any chance of getting that at Salford, and in fact would have been really happy with sub 55.

Scrawled on my hand was the kilometre paces for 55, 54 and 53 minutes. I'd decided to just run and see how I did, aiming to be under 55 so running less than 5:30 on average. Chatting to other Glossopdalers before the start I'd secured a few targets to help pull me along in the first few kilometres, just to keep me on track and stop me from running too slow. Yes I can keep an eye on my garmin, but knowing others are more experienced at pacing and have run many races before is useful.

So, chatting away to Rachel right before we start, I find I'm running alongside her for the first 500m. She's aiming for about 48. Too fast for me. But I seem to be doing ok with the pace - quick glance at my watch and I'm doing 4:30. Way too fast. I'll slow down soon. But then I wonder how long I can sustain this pace? Will I blow up before the halfway mark? So many questions. Difficult decisions to judge for a road racing virgin.

In the end I stay with Rachel for 2km or so then she's gradually pulling away from me - even with me making as much use of straightening out corners as I possibly can. Thanks to Neil for that tactic on the club handicap run. I probably keep her in sight for another 1km. Nev had also been in sight for a while but he's gone too. I'm all alone. Well not exactly but the runners around me are unknown. Times unknown. No use to me for pacing. I carefully ignore them. Not wanting to get dragged into running too fast or too slow. I need to now pace myself. There's still 7km to go. I'm astounded I've managed the first 2km at about 4:30 pace - thanks Rachel!

I get my head down and try and focus on breathing. It's now laboured and I don't dare think what my heart rate is doing. I know it's hard work. How long can I sustain it. I knew I needed to slow down or I'd have to stop so I even off at around 5min/km. The halfway point comes and goes. It's a steady drag up (not quite a totally flat course) to what will be the finish line and I knew Neil would be there cheering me on...he is, and a few others who shout words of encouragement. It works and all thoughts of giving up are shoved out. Rule #5. I'm halfway. That's my usual point in any run or race for knowing if I've got that far I can get to the end. But just how fast will I be?

At some point around the 5km point it dawns on me that I'm holding around 5min/km pace and I'm a minute up with doing the first 2km faster. Hmmm. How does that calculate for a sub-50? Just. I could just do it IF I can sustain the pace. I'm not sure. I settle again and keep working hard. Pushing not to slow down. The sun is directly into my eyes on the 6-8km stretch which sort of helps as all I can do is keep my focus on the next short stretch. I glance up to see the bends and keep taking the straightest line possible. Each little bit I etch off a corner is a bit saved. This road running lark is weird I conclude.

But thoughts quickly return to a possible sub50 race. At 6km gone I do a calculation and reckon IF I sustain around 5min/km I could just do it with maybe 30-60 seconds under. It's a big ask. My heart is beating crazy fast, my breathing is laboured and my left hamstring is sort of complaining a little. Like that, I'm about to cramp on you feeling. I stretch out my legs, tell myself to lean into the stride. There's a slight decline just after 8km coming up and I know I can stretch out a bit there, gain a few seconds maybe.

At about 7km I hear a "good running Lynne" or words similar...its fellow club mate John....how the heck did he get behind me? He's soon past and pulling away from me. But I use him to pull me along again. He's quicker than me, I push the puzzling thoughts of why he was behind me out and just try to keep in touch with him....the invisible tether soon gets stretched and I'm alone again.

I knew I needed to be at or under 40 minutes at 8km. I was just about there. That meant I needed to run another 2 kilometres at 5min/km pace. Wow. This hurts. Keep going. Use the downhill bit. I'll need it. The long straight to the finish is slightly uphill again and I knew that was going to hurt.

I round the corner at the bottom of the route and head to the finish. A chap shouts "just one more to go"....he's clearly talking miles as I'm still showing I've about 1.5km to go.

1km to go and a sub50 looks possible. Wow. (I said that a lot). This hurts. (said that lots too). Flipping heck I'm going to get under 50 minutes for 10km. Keep it going.

I know I'll have a welcoming party of Glossopdalers at the finish line...I'd counted on being the slowest in the club. And there they were....shouting words of encouragement, pushing me to the line just beyond them. Where was the bloody line. I needed to stop....there it is. Those blue mats. Wow. I've finished. Click. Garmin off and yes, it's showing sub50. Yes!!!! I just hope the official results show the same. With the confusing start and no chip/timing mats we were going off gun time so there'd be a slight difference in time. I had 49:28 on the garmin and officially its 49:30. I'll let them have 2 seconds. This time.

Here's my split times:

1	4:30
2	4:35
3	4:53
4	5:00
5	5:08
6	5:11
7	5:06
8	5:08
9	5:02
10	4:52

The moments after finishing are a blur of timing chip removal, drinking icy cold water, seeing club mates, congratulations hugs, and a growing sensation of feeling sick. That didn't wear off totally for about 5 hours. Then came the weariness. I've never felt so overwhelmingly tired all over. And the weird thing is my legs actually felt fine (still do). No cramp despite the earlier warning signs. No pain. Just an overwhelming need to not do a great deal. I eventually went for a short walk in the afternoon sunshine and legs are fine.

(thanks for the photo Kirsty)

Many thanks to my fellow club mates for such a wonderful atmosphere, and the support from everyone else, especially Neil who turned up to support even though he wasn't running. A massive thanks goes to the coaches who've been training me over the past year or so. Nik Cook and his running programmes have undoubtedly got me to this amazing time. I would simply not be running so well without Nik making me accountable for my running. Getting out there consistently and pushing those heart rate zones has clearly worked beyond what I knew possible. Sean and Zoran at Strength & Performance gym for the strength and conditioning work. The individual programme that's written for me is definitely helping with the running. Something people would do well to realise this. It's not just cross-training, but training and resting intelligently that allows growth. Most importantly thank you to my partner Tim for all of the support, motivation and inspiration he gives me. I'm clearly biased (given that I'm a soft tissue therapist myself and Tim's partner) but Tim really does give a brilliant sports massage - that's just one part of my recovery, the others being rest and regular use of the foam roller. But nothing beats the hands on work from Tim to keep my muscles working at their best.


Here's the results for the Glossopdale Harriers gang - congratulations to Nev on his category win:

Pos	Num	Forename	Surname	Cat	Team	Perf%	GunTime
85	80	Michael	Mawby	M	Glossopdale Harriers	72.60	00:37:09
119	175	Steve	Crossman	M45	Glossopdale Harriers	75.20	00:38:26
147	254	Thomas	Skelton	M	Glossopdale Harriers	67.86	00:39:45
192	432	Charlie	Eaton	M	Glossopdale Harriers	65.00	00:41:30
202	156	Caitlin	Rice	F	Glossopdale Harriers	71.12	00:42:04
257	155	Kirsty	Johnson	F	Glossopdale Harriers	67.66	00:44:13
264	264	Vaughan	McKay	M60	Glossopdale Harriers	73.51	00:44:33
290	46	Andy	Burnett	M45	Glossopdale Harriers	63.54	00:45:29
293	6	Neville	McGraw	M65	Glossopdale Harriers	75.51	00:45:36
315	114	Ian	McGarry	M40	Glossopdale Harriers	60.28	00:46:14
354	444	Rachel	Higginbottom	F40	Glossopdale Harriers	65.48	00:47:40
379	480	John	Stephenson	M50	Glossopdale Harriers	61.58	00:48:46
389	118	Lynne	Taylor	F35	Glossopdale Harriers	60.59	00:49:30
425	366	Malc	Brown	M45	Glossopdale Harriers	56.30	00:51:20
438	562	Sharn	Whaites	F40	Glossopdale Harriers	60.04	00:51:59
447	521	Rachel	Walton	F35	Glossopdale Harriers	57.15	00:52:29

Full results are here and my garmin track is here: Salford 10km Race - have a close look at the average and max heart rates...I'm speechless. No wonder it hurt so much!!

The result also means I've achieved one of my 2013 Aspirations - #1   Run 10km in under 50 minutes. Complete and coaster obtained.

Dark & White Mini Mountain Marathon #2

About a month ago I did the first in a series of three mini mountain marathons. On Sunday it was the second race...and I was on home turf, the Hope Valley, actually setting off from the village I lived in (Hope) and where I still have family. We set off from Glossop nice and early, collecting a friend and two other Glossopdale club members on the way. Quite pleasingly the weather was glorious, and held for the whole race - blue skies, fluffy white clouds yet not too warm or cold.

I was running the race with a friend. She's a good runner and I knew I could rely on her to motivate me up the hills - the one place I an learning that I need to be pushed on. I was helping her with nav practice in exchange.

Checkpoints were scattered around Win Hill, Lose Hill, the Mam Tor ridge across to Hollins Cross, down into Edale and the edge of Kinder from Edale village eastwards to Hope Cross. After dibbing to start we got our maps and were off....well, officially started anyway. There was a decent conversation between me and my partner about route choices, and it seemed to fall into either the Win Hill side or Lose Hill half. We opted for Win Hill....my old stomping ground and favourite hill. The route left us a few options for additional checkpoints at the end, in case we had spare time or energy.

discussions at the start on route choice

I made a slight error at the start with my garmin, only starting it after our route choice discussion so I had to mentally keep note we had about 3 minutes less time than shown. No bother, that won't be important till much later!  Running across the fields behind the village felt good, I knew exactly where the first checkpoint (CP2) at Killhill Bridge was without needing to consult the map. I knew exactly how the gates opened, what stiles were coming and that it was a flat start. Good. CP2 dibbed and we're off along the track, past the cemetery, a campsite and onto tarmac to pick up CP14. More tarmac through Aston, then fields, that's the last tarmac we'd see for most of the run, great.


Climbing steadily my HR monitor gave its first bleep that I'd reached my target zone for a training experiment I'm going to be doing. I'm wanting to increase my capacity to tolerate lactate, and see if I can raise my lactate threshold....but that's all a different story and sufficed to say, by the time we'd dibbed CP15 it was starting to annoy me. My HR levelled out as we traversed towards Parkin Clough. I know this path and as we began the steep descent I turned off the HR zone bleeper before we doubled back up the muddy, steep ascent.

Looking back over to Win Hill which we circumnavigated but never summited on this race (though I've been there many times)

CP21 acquired easily for us in the clough...I'm sure the guy in front of us won't have been the only one to run straight past this CP. The steep narrow rocky, muddy path requires total concentration at walking pace (which we were close to) let alone running down so missing this out and back CP will have been costly to some. The path continues to drop right down through the trees, to the road at the bottom, so anyone missing the CP would have had about 200m to climb instead of about 100m.

Contouring round the top of the forest we picked up CP16 then CP12, and onto CP23 - nice easy running down the grass and mud track. We started to wonder at what point Tim would jump out with his camera. He wasn't racing, but was out for a long easy run, vaguely around some of the race route. Later on we'd be wishing he was there to greet us with a picnic, but we forged on without coming across him once.

A fellow Glossopdale Harrier on the path somewhere between CP12 - CP23 - CP18

Next up was an easy run along the path and slightly down to CP18, then a short double back before dropping down into Jaggers Clough along the stony track. We saw a fellow club runner as we headed up to CP19 then another on the way back down. Next we headed down Backside Wood, and onto a path I don't think I've ever been on before. Careful footing required here - lots of slippy tree routes in and amongst the mud and grass on the narrow path. As we emerged from the woods on to the grassy path by the stream we commented that this would be a perfect picnic spot. I settled for a geobar and a swig of hydration drink and we continued. Good spotting of CP11 by my partner saved us descending beyond it on the lovely grassy path - a reminder to me to keep an eye on the map a little closer as I get more tired.

Crossing the main road from Hope to Edale we ducked under the railway bridge and onto another path I'm fairly sure I've not trodden previously. Shocking to think that, given that I lived so close by. Note to self: make sure I explore all paths around Glossop - always try new routes and don't settle for the ones you know well.

So now we're mentally on the way back towards the finish. The village of Hope comes into view as we contour around Lose Hill and we keep a few options open for possible CPs to get on top of the ones we know we can definitely get. CP10 is easily dibbed, and onto CP5. It's getting around Townhead farm that gives us our only slight nav error of the day. First we go over the stile then second guess our route choice so jump back over and explore a field with a tantalisingly good looking track heading over the brow in the right direction. Compass out time. Careful check of the map. Nope, we definitely need to be going over the stile. A few minutes wasted, but not a disastrous error. I should have just trusted my first thoughts - there is only one path off Lose Hill here!!

Now for a decent bit of ascent to Losehill End - CP5 dibbed and continue to a fork in the path. Choices choices. Do we climb up for CP6 which some walkers were adamant was literally just over the rise - but our maps indicated was a fair distance and a good amount of ascent higher. Or, do we go down and get CP1 then decide if we can get CP7 then CP3. Down it was. It felt like with our time remaining, plus the ascent up to CP7 I just wouldn't have had the energy to get up there and down in time. Maybe it was more of a mental game. Once you feel like you're returning does that stop you pushing?

CP6 - which is exactly where I knew it would have been, and a lot further up the hill than the walkers claimed!

Anyway, our choice was made and we returned to very familiar paths for me. I knew exactly where CP1 would be and it was. Now to contour round towards Castleton and Spring House Farm. More paths I know. Our final choice of the day. CP7+CP3 or just CP3 and back. A quick calculation of distance gave us about an additional 2km, that meant another 12-15 minutes of running and would have got us just back with a big push and no let up. Our aim of the day was to enjoy ourselves, and we'd done that. Both of us had that heavy leg feeling, and not surprising really. We'd already covered about 17km, it would be around 18km to the end from this point. This is around my longest distance to date and my partner was also feeling the creep of fatigue take its grip. That made the decision. We'd drop down from Spring House Farm, dib CP3 and have a leisurely jog back to the finish.

CP1

Clearly we were both more tired than we thought - as dropping down the track we had a walk when really there should have been no need. We could relax, enjoy the sunshine and puzzle over why the little lambs were wearing orange jackets?! A frosty night ahead, or some other reason?

600-700m later we're turning into the car park at Hope playing fields and dib the final time to end our race. We had about 24 minutes remaining. It would have been tight to get CP6 towards the top of Lose Hill or CP7 towards Castleton. A good choice to return as we did. I wanted to sit and rest but my legs told me to jog around the field a little, and to keep drinking. I must avoid the cramp. I knew I'd still got some fluid left so I gulped it down safe in the knowledge a toilet was close!!  The paths were busy today with little opportunity to find a quiet spot!

We changed into dry clothes and got a brew as we waited for our club mates to return in. Tim joined us; his run was over before ours and he had enjoyed a brew and cake at the Woodbine Cafe down the road. Many thanks to Tim who took all the photos in this blog.

The sun was still beating down, and as someone said, it was just enough to combat the chill of the wind. But only just enough. I was thankful to have changed into dry clothes otherwise I know I would have chilled very rapidly.

Hope Pavilion, chatting with fellow competitors at the finish

The results were being posted outside the pavilion every few minutes and at one brief point I was second in my category. With the final results out I've placed 8th out of 9, and 100th out of 133 overall. The order we visited CPs was: 2 - 14 - 15 - 21 - 16 - 12 - 23 - 18 - 19-11 - 10 - 5 - 1 - 3. Here's the split times:

      8       56 Lynne Taylor                                                                                      185          2:36:58                                    185 
               102(10)  114(10)  115(15)  121(15)  116(20)  112(15)  123(10)  118(20)  119(20)  111(10)  110(10)  105(10)  101(10)  103(10)        F          
                  7:11    15:08    25:48    38:46    50:35  1:03:55  1:10:20  1:19:50  1:31:44  1:44:20  1:54:15  2:09:07  2:20:51  2:30:15  2:36:58          
                  7:11     7:57    10:40    12:58    11:49    13:20     6:25     9:30    11:54    12:36     9:55    14:52    11:44     9:24     6:43 

Here's my Garmin track if you're interested and the full Dark & White results.

The next mini mountain marathon in the series is being held in the White Peak, starting somewhere around Dovedale. Looks like it's a longer drive to that one, but there'll be company again from club mates and I'll also have a partner for that one too which is brilliant news.

Shelf Moor Fell Race???

It's the Shelf Moor Fell Race on 4th September this year. Will I be fit enough to give it a decent go? It's a local race, and one of Glossopdale's, so it would be nice to have a bash.

There's 1500ft/457m of climbing over 5.9m/9.5km.  2010 results have the fastest man at 40:40, slowest 1:55:03 and fastest lady at 48:49, slowest 1:46:00.

Comparing the states to my Kinder Downfall run
1439ft climb, 6.46m, total time 1:50:30 (moving time 1:30:01).

Almost the same amount of climbing, slightly longer on Kinder, and if we discount some of the stopping time on Kinder and call it 1:40 then I would not have been last. Even if we take the total time I'd still not have been last.

Does that mean I could give Shelf Moor a go? I don't see why not. I've got 4 months to improve to a point where I can run that distance and not feel totally beaten up. Seems feasible.

We went for a walk last night and stood at the 621 trig point above Higher Shelf Stones, this is the furthest easterly point of the race.

View from Hern Stones looking towards 621 trig point

Having been up on the moor it's pretty featureless and would make navigation interesting. I wonder how much of the route is flagged? FRA states course is partially marked, I somehow doubt they'll go and stick flags all the way across from Shelf stones to the top of Dowstone Clough.  I take this race as a a possibility right now and will recce it pretty soon to get a feel for it.