lazyotter

As it was just up the road I couldn’t miss out on taking part in “The Druid” fell race, starting from the Druid pub in Llanferres. This was an “AS” race of 5 miles and 1200ft. Unfortunately for the participants (or perhaps fortunately, if like me you prefer more punishment) today has been one of the wettest and windiest in weeks. This made the going quite tough as there was a good quantity of rain, wind and mud served up.

I wasn’t particularly strong in the first half of the race and generally felt a bit listless. I also can’t remember where the route went exactly but I do recall being narrowly missed by a charging bull when we ran through his field (the chap in front of me was wearing a red shirt). Surely running on mountains is risky enough, without further threat from the wildlife?

For some time I was kept busy battling with a stitch that I picked up on the first big climb. Having successfully managed to get this under control (and amazingly without losing any places) I managed to find my legs a bit just before shrewdly leading my trailing pursuers the wrong way! This was promptly fixed by several suicidal bounds down the mountain in thick heather to the correct path. After about 3 miles the descending started and I made up a few places here and there by disengaging my common sense, and then settled in a good strong pace for the last few miles. Lots of fun, but not my best race.

Think I finished somewhere in the top 30, in about 40.5 mins approx.

(Photo courtesy of Dave Pinnington Photography)

Ever since some 10 years ago when out walking on Cader Idris with a friend, I saw at a very cloudy wet summit, a fell runner in shorts and t-shirt effortlessly pop up out of the mist, touch the trig-point and set off back down over the boulders to no doubt some glorious feeling of satisfaction. From that point on I held onto that image in my head, and harboured the ambition of one day being fit and crazy enough to run up this particularly steep and rocky mountain.

On Saturday I accomplished one of my lifetime goals by running in the 10.5 mile Cader Idris Fell Race

The race started in Dolgellau town square and climbed up to the summit of Cader Idris (893m) via the Pony Path. A map of the there-and-back race route is here. The terrain was challenging and varied, and included 3000ft of climbing.

I started the 5 mile of ascending rather conservatively, due to the hot sun making things warm up very quickly. Then I did my usual thing of gradually moving up the field on the ascent, saving energy for a manic downhill ticket to oblivion.

I came 26th out of 191 finishers in 01:46:47. The results are here. I’m both very pleased and extremely surprised.

Hammered it!

Last night I took part in the Chester Spring 5 road race. I was hoping to finish just inside 35 minutes (meaning 7 min per mile average) but I surprised myself and got round in 31:20 :). This works out at 6:16 minutes average per mile which is way faster than anything I’ve done before. I came 55th out of 296 and was the 3rd unattached finisher (i.e. not a member of a club).
The results are here. There is also a map of the route here.

On the night I started right from the front to try and avoid the stampede of 300 people squeezing down a small country lane. I pushed it very hard at the start and for a few minutes I wasn’t too far behind the leaders. My first mile was 5.47 which is probably the fastest I’ve ever done in my life (!) but unfortunately I couldn’t sustain this like the elites can! Think my second mile was also about 5.50, but during miles three and four I was suffering and slipped to 6.40 ish. On the last mile I dug down and hammered it to overtake a bunch of guys in the last half. The finish after the last straight was very deceptive - you could see it but still had to do a twisty lap of the field to get there! Even managed a sprint finish to nearly ensure a heart attack, but the suffering was all worth it when I saw my watch ;).

All through the race I was panting like a mad rabid dog (think I may have been foaming at the mouth too) ;). Wouldn’t like to think what my heart rate was doing, but needless to say it was flat out for the whole time. I think running up steep hills has helped me get used to this punishment ecstasy…

Very pleased overall. Have to try for sub 30 mins next time ;).

For the last 10 days I’ve been struck down with a nasty cold virus. This had me in bed for a number of days with fever, followed by irritating cough, and now followed by extreme lassitude. Typically this also corresponded with the easter weekend.

I dislike being ill immensely, especially when it stops me doing what I want to do. It seems bearable for the first couple of days, but then the negative thoughts start to creep in and soon the outlook grows gloomy.

I ventured out on my first run since getting sick today, a short but hilly 4 miler. Actually did a new best time, although I felt tired and like I had a sack of bricks on my back.

Also had some news today that sucked, but life goes on for the moment anyway.

Today didn’t get off to a great start. I’d left a large piece of paper on the kitchen table with “LUNCH IN FRIDGE” written on it so I’d see it at breakfast and remember to take the spaghetti with me… Somehow I failed to notice this and instead managed to pick up a tin of soup. At least dinner was ready when I got home, but a shame it was the same as yesterday.

This evening I watched “The Golden Compass” having held off for a number of weeks until I’d finished the book upon which it is based - “Northern Lights”, part of a Philip Pullman trilogy named “His Dark Materials“. With the last pages of the book so recently in my head I was at first somewhat disappointed with the movie. As with LOTR, at times it felt very fast moving indeed, where one brief scene had been translated from a few chapters in the book. This was frustrating for me as I’d taken my time over the book and a lot of the best bits seemed to be missed out. Another gripe I have was that they swapped some of the chapters around (very confusing having just read the book) and even missed out the very last part (not saying any more). And where the book seemed to be a darker almost adult-like affair, the movie seemed to be in lighter spirits.

But hold on! This was still a good film. It did manage to encapsulate the ambiance of the parallel world in which the book is set. And the acting was very good too. But the best thing about this movie is that it looks great - excellent computer generated characters, fabulous sets and costumes. I kept wishing they’d slow the thing down so we could appreciate and savour all of this, but it just kept rushing along at 100mph.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this movie if you’ve not (or not recently) read the book.

Did the rather comically named “Three peaks of Runcorn” run today, which is basically a 6.23 mile route with three hills in it.

On a lighter note… This evening I created a rather peculiar smoothie from banana, strawberries and melon, which after mixing manifested the unpleasant aroma of sheep urine. Of course, I drank it anyway (what with the 5-a-day and all that).

Did my “Factory Run” today, which is thus named due to the perimeter tour of some nearby Runcorn refineries. Miles run = 4.6.

Today I ran the 6 mile “Delemere Dash” trail race in Cheshire’s Delemere Forest on a crisp but sunny winter sunday. I came 48th in approx. 42 mins, so roughly a 7 minute mile pace. The results are currently here. I’m fairly happy with my performance, but think I could have done better, having managed to get a stitch after the first mile and not really recover. Was a splendid reason to get up on a cold morning. Despite the frost there was still a great deal of mud to contend with, so my trainers joined me in the bath later. Miles run = 6.