Hathersage to Bollington Outing. Marathon 15. Bad day in the office! Hard work I think dehydrated and tired from the weekend and week at work..

Well, what goes up, I guess must come down. This time I am not just talking about the running round here, more so the experiences of these blooming marathons! I had been on a high last weekend and during this week. The weather was picking up and last weekend was some great experiences. But I have been tired, really tired. I was still fairly positive about getting 2 completed this weekend which incidentally was a bank holiday weekend and gave an extra days playing.

On the cards, was the rescheduled run from Hathersage to Bollington which took in some local features such as breaking the ridge at Hollins Cross, skirting Mam Tor and joining the Pennine Bridleway for a bit. It also visited some old stomping grounds from the Man Tri days such as the Brickworks and Bowstones.

My companion for part of the route was Mark R. He decided to join me as I crossed the A6 at "just over half way". This turned out to be at about 30 k. I had been looking forward to this run for a while, as it brings together a variety of running and spectacular scenery along the way and hooks into some ancient forts and roads. I actually had to change the route the night before as the 'stepping stones' on the Derwent was underwater and this meant a jog down the newly opened cycle way to Shatton before turning off on the Townsfield Lane to Brough. Brough is an Anglo-Saxon word for fortification and here at the junction of the valleys and ancient roads such as Bantham Gate from Buxton and the Roman road to Glossop there was a Roman Fort called Navio built some 2000 years ago.

All that can be seen now is a few stone foundations that the footpath crosses, but on a satellite image the rectangle of the foot can still be clearly seen. From here I carried on on the footpath that heads into the back of Castleton before heading directly up to Hollins Cross midway between Back Tor and Mam Tor.

The latter was the direction I was headed but as the fog had descended instead of summiting in the mist I skirted round to the North West under the old ditch ramparts. Aerial photos of the Mam Tor late bronze age / early iron age hill fort can be seen here. Pushing on along Rushup Edge, my journey joined the infamous Chapel Gate (brilliant descent on a mountain bike) before heading North on the Pennine Bridleway.

Its been a while since I have run or biked along here and I have mostly avoided it due to the noise and destruction that the 4x4 vehicles and the motor cross bikes have been carried out, however a few years ago the 'Friends of the Peak' successfully campaigned to ban these vehicles from this stretch of the Pennine Bridleway. See here for further information. Since then this track has changed for the better. Nature is starting to take back some of the sections that had been made into jumps and some of the excursions that had been made alongside the tracks that the idiots had trashed have been levelled out. One of the striking things is that you can actually hear the birds along the trail now. Unfortunately there are some idiots still out there purposefully disregarding this legislation and only a few weeks ago we saw a small stream of 4x4 making there way along it. Luckily today it was peace and quiet and apart from 2 other runners and mountain biker I had the route to my self.

Conscious that I was meant to be meeting Mark soon, there was no time to hang around and I quickly descended down to the Hayfield Road and the Peep-O-Day. Quick text to Mark that I just had one more climb to carry out then pushed on up through the quarries to the Trig at Chinley Churn. Here I had to hop a couple of walls and electrified fences to get back onto the moorland and headed down to the Bridleway. Joining the road and heading down to Green Head and running behind schedule I bumped into Mark coming up the road to meet me! Hooray. We had a quick conversation about the route and me handing over the navigation to Mark confident in his ability to at least get us back to a 'waiting Hannah' when he promptly announced that we had missed the turning and gone wrong! We had barely gone 400 metres. It didn't bode well. After a quick change of shirt and a top up of water at our temporary checkpoint of the stinky A6 we waved goodbye to Hannah and Boys and headed of up the hill on rapidly stiffening legs.  Marks section to continue.....

I met Damo at Furness Vale as he was on his way down the hill towards the A6. I decided this was a wise meeting point as it meant I would only have 9 miles to run and Damo would probably be knackered! However he seemed to be in surprisingly good form as we got to the car to refill his water bottle and put on a fresh T-shirt. The only sign of his weeks of excessive running was when he started to apply the nipple tape and talked about "chafing". Fortunately for both of us we didn't stop for long and soon were on our way again, trusting my Garmin for navigation. This only worked when I was looking to make sure we followed the purple line which I must admit I got wrong once and added on some welcome mileage to Damo's total for the day.

The run was fairly uneventful over the moors to Bowstones above Lyme Park where we picked up the Gritstone trail. Back on familiar territory for me we headed across the brickworks road and towards Bollington. Whilst leading a muddy section of downhill for Damo I came a cropper and slipped over covering one side in thick mud and providing more amusement for Damo. All in all it was a good end to the run and we met everyone back at our house for some lunch and cakes.

Thank you Mark for your take on things. We had planned a somewhat longer route and had aimed to finish on the White Nancy, however I was well and truly broken as we were nearing Bollington and was barely able to get back up the hill to Marks House by the end. Oh dear oh dear. Mark Thank you very much for guiding me back. Then came a very awkward sit through lunch, journey home and rest of the afternoon. Where would I be without Sudocrem? Oh and that mirror gave a new perspective on things!

Shoe Choice: More Mile Cheviots. Legs wrecked. Think more the fatigue and early start as opposed to the tarmac sections.
Stats. Distance: 42.9 km  Elevation: 1.20 km  Total Dist: 645.0 km  Total Elevation: 11.18 km
km/marathon: 43.0 km

The Very Very Hot Leaden Boot Challenge. Marathon 14.

The Mighty Leaden Boot Challenge is here again. They came, they sweated, they ran, they walked, they cramped, they conquered, they ate a lot of pretzels, pie and cake.... However that was not all! What a cracking day. What a hard day. A few months ago Simon had expressed interest at running another marathon alongside me and had ear marked this weekend. He asked whether I thought that the White Peak Marathon or the Leaden Boot Challenge was the better one to enter. Better? How to compare these two races? This was the final text back that sealed this challenge. "From here to the starts they are about the same time. Leaden boot like other ldwa ones is friendly and informal. Scenery great and good cakes, but there will be walking as it is up, down, up, down etc. White peak is a coach journey to the start and on 2 long old railway tracks that go on and on. Easiness: white peak. Cost: leaden, scenery: leaden, finishing momento: white peak-cup, finishing food: leaden! Footware: whitepeak-road or stiff cross, leaden-trail/claw if wet. I have an idea... Man up and do both!"  Simon has kindly written a few paragraphs for the blog and feature lower down.

The LBC was my first marathon last year and one I did when I had just started running again and had this hairbrained idea. Last year was stunning weather. Hot, sunny with a nice breeze on the tops of the hills. I had recced the the course over 2 cooler days a few weeks before so roughly knew where I was going. But had not really appreciated how hard this run is. The profile above gives an indication of this however when you mix in the terrain and weather a 'saw tooth' profile could be forgiving or brutal.

I wrote a couple of paragraphs on the challenge from last year which can be read here. Despite me having recently got back into running, the profile of the course and the weather last year I perceived that 4 hours would be about right for a finish time, so thats the pace I set out. All went well, through halfway in a shade under 2 hours and still roughly oncourse at the 30k checkpoint then the wheels fell off. I could no longer cope with the styles due to cramp and had nothing left in the tank. I eventually finished in a shade under 4 hours 22 minutes spurred on mainly by the borrowed Forerunner 10 having a rubbish battery and due to cut out soon.

Since then I have always thought about the possibility of coming back fitter and trying to break 4 hours. It is possible on the course it just needs one of those whippets to rock up and incidentally crack it. The overwhelming charm of this run is that those same whippets go elsewhere to race. So decisions had to be made on how to approach this challenge.

Eventually I decided to do the double and do the White Peak Marathon the day before and therefore settle in to complete the LBC on tired legs as opposed to go for breaking 4 hours. And now having experienced the heat and dryness of yesterday and seen that it is the same forecast for today I am happy with the choice. 4 hours would have been tough today, really tough. Simon can take over from here.

Simons' Bit: What a day to run a marathon.  The drive to Alstonefield was fantastic.  Empty roads, glorious sunshine and amazing views that I had never come across before despite only living 40 minutes away from the start point. 

When deciding what marathons to assist with, I opted for one of the hilliest of them all!  Today was going to be a tough one.  The start was gentle and downhill which gave us all a false sense of speed.  Damians legs seemed to be moving well which was pretty impressive considering the baking hot marathon he did the day before. 

A steep climb out of the valley then a return to the ever increasingly humid forest valley soon had us arriving at Ilam Hall checkpoint.  The next checkpoint included the most amazing rocky road treats (see pics that do not do them justice).  Multiple rocky road slabs later we were back on the move and fairly high up in the rankings (for a slow coach like me anyway!). 

 The following miles seemed to fly by pretty quickly.  The terrain was fairly open to the radiant sunshine but we were keeping topped up on fluids and doing OK.  With 16 miles gone I hit a bad spell and the subtle signs of cramp began.  These only got worse and Damian would not accept my offers for him to plough ahead as I was clearly slowing him down.  Repeatedly declining my offers to go ahead Damian stuck by me and to be honest I was glad that I did not have to worry about route selection for the remaining 10 miles or so.  I consoled myself that I was helping out by looking so out of shape! 

The last 6 miles or so included running just below the threshold of cramping which downhill was pretty quick but uphill did involve plenty of walking.  Somehow we did not get overtaken and managed to run plenty of the final miles and crossed the line in a respectable 4^th and 5^th place.  Amazing pies, as much cake as a glutton could feast upon and some water was taken on board.  The effort of running the event was worth it just for the rocky road and post-race grub for sure.

Now to demonstrate just how hot the day had been my body decided to go into meltdown on the drive home.  A headache then dizziness when arriving home was shortly followed by drowsiness and the need for an overnight stay at the Northern General Hospital.  The cause: suddenly lowered Sodium levels due to drinking water with no electrolytes after the race which diluted my system.  Who would have thought drinking water would have caused such an issue.  This just goes to show just how well Damian has trained for these events.  It was a great day (apart from the Hospital trip!) and a great honour to help in such a great cause.  I’m looking forward to joining several of the forthcoming miles this summer (armed with post-race electrolytes).

Thanks Simon. The time of this year being 5 hours 11 mins shows indeed how tough it was but I don't think we lost that much time in the last half, maybe just that 11 minutes. Theres always next year Si?

I didn't feel too bad after the race and knew nothing of Simons adventure into Sheffield until the following morning. At work I was struggling and was having dizzy spells everytime I stood up. So at lunchtime, after talking to Simon, I trotted down to the hospital canteen and picked up 3 sachets of salt and spread them liberally on my left over baked potato and chilli. Within a couple of hours I felt brilliant. Was it just the chilli, was it a lack of salts, who knows? probably both however it has given more to think about not just during the running but also immediately following.

Si, as always it was a great pleasure to run with you and as you said above I am looking forward to doing it all(well most of it - I'll bring you flowers and grapes next time) again in the next few months. Thank goodness you didn't crash that posh new car on the way home! Thanks to Noel and his team for putting on an even better run than last year!

Shoe Choice: Nike Icarus Stealths - Stupid as I've now put holes in them. Why don't I learn.
Stats. Distance: 41.3 km  Elevation: 1.35 km  Total Dist: 602.1 km  Total Elevation: 9.98 km

The White Peak Marathon - My Bakers Marathozen

Well the weekend seems to have come around again quick and another Saturday means another marathon. This one is number 13 in my long list of 40 and is almost a third of the way through. Easy really. I have been looking forward to the warmer months as hopefully a great opportunity to run off road on some dry trails in some good sunshine and finally get the cold and damp out of my bones. Those eternal long dark nights now seem a distant memory with the headtorch firmly locked away in the cupboard awaiting autumn.

So hosting my 13th Marathon was Matlock AC a great friendly club based in the heart of the White Peak with boundless beautiful scenery all around. I have done a few of their events before and have found them to be well organised, efficient and friendly. My first encounter was doing the MARS triathlon way back in the day when all you had to do was finish the weeks work and then the whole weekend was spent playing at whatever you fancied. I am talking of course about the days before kids! And yes I know this blog kinda of gives the impression that not much has changed! I won it that year, despite having to stop mid way through the swim to get someone to move my illegally parked car and on climbing out of the pool at the end of the swim being a bit dizzy and promptly falling into the baby pool! Oops.

I have done one other event. The White Peak Marathon in 2012. I accompanied my cousin Sam round this beautiful course having also talked him into running the Eyam Half Marathon the next day. Whilst this was a superbly thought out idea, I forgot one thing... My training and rocked up having not run for 3 months. Despite this I was fairly confident mainly by the fact that we would be just jogging round the course and up until this point I had got through any sporting event on past training and former glories. Realistically, how hard could it be?

All went well and I was smoothly running as if I had trained for months, quite pleased with myself. However around the 11 mile mark you double back on yourself at Parsley Hey where you wave goodbye to the Tissington Trail and take up the High Peak Trail. I had stopped to kiss and say hello to my chief supporters, confidently ushering Sam on as I would catch up. It took me over a mile to catch him (I'm pretty sure he put in a burst although he's never admitted it) and with that I was KO'd. Bits started aching, cramping and spasming and it took a lot of stops, trigger pointing and stretching to get to the finish. He stay with me revelling in my agony and content to relax and save himself for the next day. We crawled over the finish line in 4 hours 23 minutes.

So keen to not repeat the same error as 2012 I decided to do some training this year and what better training than to complete 12 marathons in the preceding 9 weeks. Perfect! So the promised heatwave delivered and I had been excited all week with the coming weekend and if all went according to plan I would try and take an hour off my time from 2012. ie finish in under 3 hours 23 minutes hopefully a lot under!

Wow what a brutal marathon that was today. Firstly the walk to registration had me sweating and then being cooped up in the sweatbox of a coach waiting to leave the carpark for the drive up to the start in Thorpe meant we were mostly cooked. Despite this the run was initially unassumingly hot due to the trees, height and exposure with breeze relative to the valley registration. It was difficult not to get lured along by the magnet of others from the start and I found myself running gently up hill to the halfway point in 1 hour 34 minutes. Apart from a tight chest from a chest infection over the last 10 days I've been struggling to shake off, it was fairly comfortable. Then I realised I was chaffing in the old between the legs department. It zapped the speed out of me as I couldn't concentrate and I was starting to run like John Wayne. I stopped at 28k and asked someone from the ambulance at the checkpoint if he had any Vaseline. He didnt! So I ran on to 31k and at the next drinks station a kind chap sorted me out with a big old plaster for my left leg and some cream for the right. It took a k or so to get back into running after an extended stop then I was back on it. Well maybe not, despite the area being cleaned first the damned thing wasn't sticking. I stopped at 36k at the Middleton Top checkpoint and one of the guys had some gaffer tape, in bright orange, so I nicked a decent amount to loosely put round both my legs. That did the trick and I was back on it! Well maybe not, it worked well for the first few k's but then started catching on the other side. Damn it! Tape removed I cracked on, so close to the finish that it didn't really matter any more anyway and the plaster was sort of still in place. And that was it, running on to the finish and completion of number 13!

If you ever talk to anyone about this race one of the things that will be mentioned pretty early on in the conversation is the brutal series of ever harder downhills in the last 10k. My memory of this from 2 years ago did not do them justice, they were a lot harder steeper and longer than I recalled. If you've got the legs left at this point you could make up a serious amount of time and even more on your placing. Twice I have done this course and twice I haven't had the legs. I am not coming back to try a third time!

And so to the timings I hear you curiously ask. Well the provisional results are up already. Well done Matlock AC! According to the results I finished in a creditable 3 hours 33 minutes and with the heat, very happy. Having stopped the watch to cover my 'breaks' to sort out the chaffing, I recorded a run time of 3 hours 19 minutes. The two long stops probably giving me a bit of a rest also so if you add say 2 minutes each stop to my run time to cover this, it brings me out in.... guess what? 3 hours 23 minutes and exactly 1 hour ahead of my time from 2 years ago! With skills like this I should be an accountant! You get a finishing goodie bag of fruit, juice and water and biscuits which nicely gets you back to the car. Also a mug! The one on the right is my one from 2 years ago that I drank my coffee from this morning and the one on the left is my new one from this year. Its no medal but hey, medals are overrated and useless. A mug on the other hand...

Well I have tried to ensure that with each event comes a different experience. This one had certain elements I hope will remain unique as I don't want them repeated! Tomorrow I am running again and this time on 'The Leaden Boot Challenge' Off road and with an alleged near 6000 ft of ascent (actually more like 4400 ft) it is sure to be a tester! To be honest I think the ascents tomorrow will be fine as its the descents I'm not looking forward to. I am however looking forward to running it with Simon, he texted me this afternoon to ensure that the sting had been taken out of my legs before running with him. I think with the heat and the chest and anything else I can whinge about I will be happy just to be hanging on to his shirt tails. They've got good cakes at this one so am looking forward to stopping regularly and nailing the rocky road! Bring it on.....

Shoe Choice: Nike Icarus Stealths - Spot On!!
Stats. Distance: 42.2 km  Elevation: 0.43 km  Total Dist: 560.8 km  Total Elevation: 8.63 km

Marathon Number 12 was a point to point from Castleton to Alderley Edge

So I set out on this challenge encouraged by the fact that I was to meet up with Pete just under half way through at the Cat and Fiddle pub on the Macc-Buxton road. So really it was a nice little outing till then and then be dragged through the latter half.

The weather forecast was for rain, rain, rain with the odd break of sunshine however again the weather was great with sunshine all the way until the last climb out of Buxton and getting in sight of the C&F. The skies then thickened and darkened. Still on up and up to meet with Pete.

I had been struggling to come up with how to do a 12 for the pictures but on route up the the C&F I came up with a bright idea.. Well thats as much brain power as I could assign to the task so I was happy with that.  More details to follow..

Hello everyone. I've been asked to write a few words to add to Damo's here. I joined him for the last 16 miles of marathon #12 this weekend.

 So, here's the real story...

I was a little nervous about running with Damo. Mostly I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle his inane conversation for longer than a few seconds, but I decided to go ahead anyway. Having arranged to meet at the Cat & Fiddle and run to Alderley Edge via the summit of the mighty Shutlingsloe, I duly arrived at the C&F a little ahead of time, not wanting to delay the Thacker after his initial solo miles from Castleton. Imagine my surprise to see the man himself hopping out of a taxi just down the road, spraying himself on chest and under armpits with water, and rubbing a bit of mud on his chubby legs. Really. Well, maybe not really... A lonely figure running towards us told me we were game on. Having had a quick photo stop at the C&F we set off across the moors. The previous night's deluge had turned a lot of the footpaths into streams and mud baths but on we ran. And on. And on. 

A rain/hail shower and 60 knot winds near the summit of Shutlingsloe meant no stopping there and we rapidly descended through Macc Forest and onto the flatter terrain of Cheshire. I'd like to say we ran like a pair of Olympians, but that's only true if the Olympians in question were entered in the heavyweight wrestling. Dragging our sorry backsides over the final hill and down through the National Trust woodland at Alderley Edge (you really should visit, it's lovely), it turned out i'd over-egged my 'half' of the route plan slightly and Damo had ended up with an extra couple of miles over the regulation 26.2... Sorry mate but consider it character building! 

So, what have I learnt about the heroic Thacker? He really is as lazy and narcissistic as you think. He kept stopping and forcing me to take photos of him in various 'show off' poses. Personally, I think he's just a little out of shape and needed the rest. 

If you're reading this blog, chances are you've already sponsored him, but do keep spreading the word. This guy's doing something incredible (I can vouch for that having joined him for only the tiniest portion of his challenge) and for a very worthwhile cause. The support you can give doesn't have to be financial - get out there and run a couple of miles with him, or hop on your bike and shout at him for a while. It's great fun! And after all that the conversation wasn't actually too bad - might join him for another one once I've let my legs recover; a luxury Damo's legs don't get this year...

So, what have I learnt about the heroic Thacker? He really is as lazy and narcissistic as you think. He kept stopping and forcing me to take photos of him in various 'show off' poses. Personally, I think he's just a little out of shape and needed the rest.

If you're reading this blog, chances are you've already sponsored him, but do keep spreading the word. This guy's doing something incredible (I can vouch for that having joined him for only the tiniest portion of his challenge) and for a very worthwhile cause. The support you can give doesn't have to be financial - get out there and run a couple of miles with him, or hop on your bike and shout at him for a while. It's great fun! And after all that the conversation wasn't actually too bad - might join him for another one once I've let my legs recover; a luxury Damo's legs don't get this year...

Thanks very much for the company Pete, the difference made was incredible. I was hoping you were going to give a fantastic rendition of all the expletives we heard from the 'Angry Man' we ran past in Macc. I had no idea that those words could be used as verbs! Or maybe talk of the fabled caverns below Alderley Edge where a Kings army lays in wait for the Wizard to awaken them..

Shoe Choice: Nike Icarus Stealths
Stats. Distance: 45.2 km  Elevation: 0.82 km  Total Dist: 518.6 km  Total Elevation: 8.20 km

The Day after: Busted by a Dambusters Route. 11 Marathons completed in 8 weeks.

Well another day another marathon. A local route I have been looking forward to for a while. The weather forecast was pretty good and so after contemplating doing the northern ladybower watershed I decided to play it safe and stay low. I felt pretty good on this route and made steady progress all the way up cold side to the slippery stones.

Stopped as I took this photo, had a banana and put on a dry T Shirt and then headed home.

At 28k the weekends running hit me and suddenly I found myself walk running with nothing in the tank, despite eating and drinking well throughout the run. So that was it, the rhythm broken and getting cold I added more layers and all my joints started hurting. The run/walk turned to walk/walk and at 32k I phoned the wife to chuck the towel in..

Trouble is that she was at the Bakewell Spectacular watching stunt motorcycles with the boys! No lift there. I walked for the bit. I thought: Right I'm going to stop in the Ladybower and order some late lunch and have a couple of pints and wait till she's back... Bugger, left my cards and money at home.. Right I'll walk home.. and walk I did.

It took bloody ages but with the fairly quick first 2/3rds wasn't actually too bad a finish time all things considered. I am reminded again what a mental game this is. I could have kept going. I should have kept going, I know the low hits me between 25 - 28 k but despite this at the time sometimes you just find yourself walking..

Company in the second half of these challenges is a definitive plus. Suddenly the change of flavour, almost the novelty of it, just gets you or keeps you going. Need to rope more people strategically into this challenge.. Any takers??

This is a stunning route with loads of other people to help distract you along the way. There is an ultra on this course that is about 50 miles long however despite how pretty it is, I think more than one lap would be dull. Especially when we are surrounded by nicer more interesting trails. A low level bad weather trail is the perfect description, probably over harshly, for this route but that doesn't mean I couldn't enjoy it on a sunny fairly calm day. I'll try and get back later in the year and blast this course to put right the wrong from today.

Shoe Choice: Nike Icarus Stealths
Stats. Distance: 41.1 km  Elevation: 0.57 km  Total Dist: 473.4 km  Total Elevation: 7.38 km