Marathon 30 (well actually it was an Ultra) 57km of perfect gritstone trails. In fact it was the Gritstone Trail. But called the Gritstone Grind for this race.

Well another marathon again means another hot sunny day and again today didnt disappoint. This is a race I had earmarked from the year before and was looking forward to, firstly as a great trail run but secondly as a good challenge for the distance. The first thing to say is that this race is well organised, cheap as chips and well worth the mileage due to the spread laid on at the finish. If I had known that lot was waiting I think I would have stopped and taken less photos and run a bit quicker.

The second thing is that this is a point to point race the entire length of the Gritstone Trail, which means an early start to get to the finish in Disley and hop on a coach to head down to the start. I sat with a little group at the back and put the world to rights whilst the day got sunny and hot. We have a quick briefing by Richard the RD who had done a sterling job with taking into account all the errors people made from previous years to make sure people didn't go wrong.... well make it less likely anyway.

Then it was time to follow the blue sign down on to the side of the canal and start rather randomly just underneath the bridge to the carpark. The first couple of k's are bashed out on the side of a canal which was a nice warm up and opportunity to get into your stride. It was an early and relatively cold morning and I think with the prospect of running 57k had sparked off a touch of shock.

It took a long time to warm up. In fact I had to wait until we left the canal and started up the first climb. Anyway within about 200 yards of starting the first up hill the field was stringing out and I was following one guy in front. As we headed up, he stopped as he didn't know where he was going. I knew it was a right somewhere up here but had lost concentration as I was following him, I turned around to seek further guidance from others and was told 'Go Right, Go Right'. We continued along the early right for about half a k before we realised the error and turned round to find that about 20 had also followed us.. Well thats what you get for not paying attention.

Anyway back on course and up up up as the tarmac changed to muddy path and topped out on Mow Cow to run under the old folly that has hosted many a Methodist Sermons in the past. As we popped out into the sunshine it finally got nice and warm. Then came the long descent off the ridge, along the old Stoke to Congleton railway before heading over some fields on route to the shadow of the wonderfully named 'The Cloud' and the first check point. Great food laid on to keep the calories going in.

More to come.......