Where did April go...

Over a month since my last post, I really should be content to post short sound bites rather than wait until I have pictures etc. Run just over 260 miles in the month but more importantly over 40 hours as the fell practice has started early – the weather has been too good not too! A couple of Reccy runs of parts of BGR leg3 and a night reccy of Leg1 more on this later...



Harrison Stickle from Pike O' Stickle



Done a lot of races as usual, most treated as tempo runs with friend but some raced hard, most enjoyed some a struggle and one massive disappointment.

Sat 2^nd – Cartmel Trail Race

It started with a massive disappointment at Cartmel Trail race which I’d been looking forward to since October as half the entry for the whole series of eight had been a birthday present from my dad. On my warm up I discovered there were some cars parked across part of the route which made me a bit apprehensive as this shouldn’t have been possible. The race started well as I settled into fourth behind Adam whom I chatted with at the start and met at the Coniston trail the previous year. After about four miles I was passed by the winner from two years ago who had started easy as he hadn’t run for a couple of weeks. After a brief chat he pulled away chasing Adam for third. Fifth was good and I felt pleased as the guy in sixth was a good way back though even if he passed me I felt like a good run. Then disaster struck - on coming down a track there was a gate in front which a couple of the walkers (started an hour earlier) kindly let me through. After a few minutes down the track the tread marks seemed to reduce and I realised there had been no course markers for a while, I had noticed but since there was only one track I’d convinced myself that there were no markers as the route was obvious… Decision time should I turn back or carry on? Wrong decision I carried on and the realisation that I’d gone wrong struck me so at the next junction I decided to try and cut back to the course – once more a wrong decision. After running through a farm I saw the guy in sixth place had also gone wrong as he was in a field below me. I tried to get my bearings and headed in what I thought was about the right direction to cross the route. Cutting through woods, brambles and around bogs I charged off but no sign of any other runners so I headed up high to see if I could spot any, no luck, then I saw a church I “thought” I recognised and judged from it I was going the wrong way. Again I was wrong – it wasn’t the church I though it was. My disappointment was tempered by the fantastic weather and scenery but any chance of a good position was gone. Then form behind I head another runner it was Adam who had also gone wrong, which made me feel better and worse, better as it looked like a few people had gone wrong but bad as he had been in third and would have got third or fourth. We ended up running back together, crossing electric fences, being shouted at by irate farmers and eventually rejoining the course near the finish and decided to cross the line together in gentlemanly fashion holding hands – it must have looked odd!.

Cartmel 2010 - the bit of the course I missed!

It turned out lots of people had gone wrong most at the same place Adam and I had. Some groups came into the finish from the wrong direction to rapturous applause from the spectators. I ran over 2.5 miles extra so 64^th place was still pretty good but nothing like the 5^th or 6^th I should have come.

Once home and able to look at the route I’d taken on Garmin connect I found I had nearly been back on the route before seeing the church if only I’d stuck to my guns but on a marked trail you don’t tend to carry a map! The organisers held a stewards enquiry and have put a lot of things in place for next year and even changed the rules of the series so the best two results out of the three races in each series count. This meant the ones who did not go wrong are not penalised nor are those that got lost. It also allows for a bad or missed race in general.

Wed 6^th – Grizedale Grind

The wind was strong for the race though temperatures good. The wind made the final accent tricky as well as the first bit of decent as balance was hard to maintain! I reached the top before Karl Bell only to fall two minutes behind him on the decent! Overall the times on the day were slower than normal. Stu and Steve were there to support and take photos.



Very back from start of Grizedale accent



Thurs 7^th – Lonscale Launchpad

With Richard McGrath and Sam Johnstone of Ellenbrough both running I settled for third before even starting the race being fairly confident of a guaranteed third place in the series knowing both Richard and Chris Knowles were too far ahead and too good to catch. With that in mind I did a mini reccy before the race of four miles to the first and last checkpoints and tagged an extra 4.5 miles to the end to make it a 14 miles running day.

Derwent Water from Skidaw path

Weds 13^th – Round the houses

Heavy legs for this one having had a bug for the previous couple of days so once again did a 5.5 mile warm up knowing my race time would not be as good as I’d want or hope so decided to run on deficit as training. All in all though an enjoyable race.

Thurs 14^th – Fangs Brow Finale

This was the final race in the WCOC Warrior Holidays 2011 series. Guaranteed third overall I did a reccy of the whole route before the race to once again practice running in deficit. The overall winner was Richard McGrath with Chris Knowles coming in second. I got second senior prize though since Chris Knowles though got first Vet40 prize.

Sat 16^th – Edinburgh parkrun

Another attempt at a new 5K PB thwarted by the weather, last time it had been snow this time a very strong head wind, with most runners being between 45 seconds and 1 minute outside there PB. Next time …

Sun 17^th – Langdale St George’s day 10K

Expected to be in the prizes for this on as on the same day as the London marathon, but within 100m I was already pulling away and by the end even though I’d races three out of the previous four days I won in 10K PB time of 36:12 which is a ridiculously slow time to win a race but you can only race those who are there!

Sat 23^rd – Teenagers with attitude

Good race took it easy at first and picked it up around High Snockrigg to finish fast and easy with a lot left in the tank, though my blisters would say otherwise. I won’t say much about this race as Stu has said it much better than I could.

Wed 27^th – Lords Seat

This was the second race in the Whinlatter forest Series, Grizedale grind being the first. The race was held in almost perfect conditions with both male and female records being broken. It felt much more like a trail race than a fell race which if I’d known from the start would have gone of much faster. Phil Winskill won the Lord of the forest prize.

Sun May 1^st – Keswick half marathon

Started off OK but started to suffer from about mile nine, with miles 10-12 being a good 45secs or so slower than they should have and ten seconds slower thatn last year. I could blame the wind and heat or not eating properly or running too much in the previous week or all of them. Maybe I was just a bit optimistic and am not quite in the form I'd like to think I am! Still a good friendly race as usual with a big turn out 800+ I think. When Steve Littler turned up the winner was suspected and the course record looked in trouble. He didn’t fail to deliver with a new course record. Phil Winskill last years winner managed a good time even though he’d raced at Coniston the day before. Proably one of my best results of the year so far but didn’t feel like it! Seventh is much better than I had hoped for!

My full training log is on: Fetch Everyone - Goatee H