The Montane Howgills Trail 26 - 17/05/2015

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings" - John Muir

I had been really looking forward to this race all year.  A marathon in the magnificent Howgill Fells.

The Howgills are great saddleback hills separating the famous Lakeland Fells and the smaller hills and valleys of the Yorkshire Dales.  The area is quiet and beautiful and I have visited for hiking before and knew it would make great trail running country. Mountains are a passion and I was excited to experience the biggest hills I have run yet.

The race starts and finishes in the pretty town of Sedbergh and is organised by the same guys who put on the famous Lakeland 100 ultra.  What works for them as a warm up has got to be good enough for me and my prep for the South Downs Way 100 which is my A race this year.

Cool shirt memento

I made an early start driving over from York and arrived to grey skies but high cloud.  It was cool if a little breezy, all in all not bad for running.

We were led from the race hq down to the start line by a lone bagpiper which was a nice touch although I'm not sure what the locals would have made of a load of lunatics and a piper disturbing their Sunday morning peace.

The first five miles are tough climbing straight out of Sedbergh, up to Winder and then the Calf at 674m in height.  The going here was tough and the wind had grown stronger and colder.  For the steepest sections the most effective tactic was to simply stick your backside out and hike to save some gas for the remaining 20 miles or so.

Once the top is reached the brakes come off for a brilliant technical rocky descent across remote terrain into Bowderdale. The trail was pretty wet and I managed to catch and pass a few runners here making a meal of the mud and standing water by simply ploughing on through - great fun!

Awesome Howgills trails

Now in the valley bottom there were a few muddy miles meandering over to Ravenstonedale and then another hard climb on quiet roads on the flanks of Harter Fell.

The next section for me was the best part of the day.  Just as you drag yourself wearily to the top of the climb you were rewarded with a spectacular flying descent back down to the River Rawthay in the shadow of Cautley Spout. This section was just awesome with the Howgills looming over you and some truly spectacular views of this rugged and special place.

It sounds weird I know for a tough marathon in the mountains that I actually felt sad at this point that the race would all be over in an hour or so.  I'm not sure I've had this much fun in a trail race before.

Soothing stream crossing after 20 odd miles of tough trail

Soon we were following the river home via some cooling stream crossings (bliss on the now battered feet) to finish on the town playing fields in Sedbergh.

I came in 26th in 4.26 out of 159 runners

A great route which was well marked, beautiful mountains and a brilliant little adventure.  I even managed to miss out on my usual fall.   The Howgills were everything I was expecting and more. Thanks to the Trail 26 guys for organising a fab race, for all the jelly babies and for a couple of the photos used here.

So thats it then, the next race will be the big one.  100 miles and 4,000m of ascent along the South Downs Way in only three weeks or so.  It seems mad to see such big numbers in black and white but I'm going to give it everything I've got.  If I have half as much fun as I have had in all the training and preparations this year I'll be ok.

DNF or glory, I'll see you on the other side....

The North Lincolnshire Half Marathon - 02/05/2015

A good friend knows your best stories, a best friend has lived them with you

A rare return to the road this month to run the North Lincs half which is held in the town I grew up in (not so sunny) Scunthorpe.

The main draw of this race was to run with three of my oldest friends Mark, Ben and Chris. They each had their own goals for the race with Mark looking to go under 90 minutes for the first time, Ben looking for a pb and Chris looking to finish his first half. I decided to run in my Scunthorpe United colours in a cynical ploy to get more jelly babies on the course. Ben had opted for the old school singlet in an attempt to channel his Normanby Park AC under 12s form and Mark was obviously chasing the fetish support having gimped up in a ravishing pair of comedy black foot marigolds (vibrams).

We shivered together on the start line in the pouring rain for what seemed like forever before we were finally off, around 1,500 runners streaming out of town and onto the country roads.

Poser - note marigolds on the left

Mark and I decided to run together as I was feeling pretty confident about going under 90 minutes and it worked well as we paced each other for the first 10 miles. The weather even eased a little after an hour or so and the yellow flowering fields of rape looked spectacular with the purple storm clouds as a backdrop. The route is fast and flat and passes through the villages of Butterwick and Burringham before heading East back to Scunthorpe with a lap of the pitch at fortress Glanford Park, home of Scunthorpe United to finish. The shirt drew a few cheers from the hardy supporters braving the downpour on the route.

A pacy peacock

As 10 miles approached we were well on track for Mark's sub 90 target and I realised if i got a wriggle on i could still have a crack at my own pb so I decided to push on and see what i could do. I was able to make up some time but a combinaton of my recent heavy mileage, a lingering cold and a return of the maelstrom for a testing last mile meant I just missed out.

Mark digging deep for the final mile

In the end i was pretty satisfied with 1.28.18 on the day given i have mostly been running slow and long on trails this year.  The time didn't really matter, the best thing about this race was sharing it with my mates and it was awesome to be there with them and see them achieve.

Mark followed me home soon after I'd finished breaking the 90 minute mark for the first time despite a tough last few miles.  Equal kudos goes to Ben who blasted to a 10 minute pb and some nicely chafed nipples to sneak under 1.45 and Chris getting home looking fresh as a daisy in his first half marathon.

Shiny

I think putting a decent dent in my Half Marathon pb is going to require a different approach with some focussed training targeted to take me under 1.25.  All of this mileage for the trail ultras is great for endurance but not very good for improving speed over these shorter distances on the road.  Its quite cool though to feel like there are potentially faster HM times in there waiting to be extracted!

Although there were one or two issues with parking and some examples of rather militant stewarding, if you are after a fast half you can't go far wrong with this one and the finish in the stadium adds a nice touch.  Well done to everyone who braved the elements especially the heroic marshalls.

Next up a tough marathon in the mountains at the Howgills Trails 26 before the big one fewer than 6 weeks away!