tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58174421630197974602024-03-20T20:45:09.795-07:00Obsession With TrailsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11551389292774095846noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5817442163019797460.post-30185041260375599452014-01-07T08:03:00.000-08:002014-01-07T08:03:03.630-08:00Lakeland Trails Cartmel 2013<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I continued to enjoy my trail running around Delamere Forest, Helsby Hill and the Sandstone Trail and whilst running I thought I needed to push myself more, could I do that on my own or would I need to join a club? There was one local running club but I was after trail and not Tarmac. I found one club that ran in Delamere Forest called the <a href="http://www.delamerespartans.org.uk/" target="_blank">Delamere Spartans</a> but I was unsure whether to join or go it alone, I continued to run on my own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I needed another race but something more trail rather than running through bogs and water even if I did enjoy it. After looking around the internet I came across the <a href="http://www.lakelandtrails.org/index.php" target="_blank">Lakeland Trails</a> series and there was a race coming up in Cartmel, I booked into the 18k Challenge and Suzanne wanted to give it a go too, so she decided on the 10k. So over the winter months I trained on the local trails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On race day Suzanne and I set off up the M6 to Cartmel in the Lake District, it was a cold damp morning. Suzanne’s 10k race started first so once we registered, Suzanne got ready. I watched her start the race and then I headed to find a good spot to watch, it wasn't long before she came along to the finish with a big grin on her face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Once Suzanne had got her finishers bag it was my turn to get ready, I headed over to the start area and decided to hang around in the middle of the pack, after a quick debrief we were off. It was a muddy field at the start so I took the outside of the route and started moving my way through the runners. It then narrowed off once we were out of the field onto a single track, after the heavy rain the night before there was lots of water and puddles on the track, some competitors were even avoiding them, not me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After a few miles we got onto the open fells, I was really enjoying it, the climb up was zapping my legs but I managed to keep running. A few miles further along and the field was thinning out, I got to a stile and made my way over it and at that point the marshal said I was currently in 5th position, really I thought, surprised. The route was really good with some good up and down sections and a nice run around a small tarn, nearing the last few miles the ground was getting really muddy, I lost a couple more places at this point and the mud was zapping my legs but I worked out I was still just in the top ten.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I could now hear the tannoy from the finish and I knew it couldn't be much further, I checked behind me once more and I had a runner just behind me, I thought that's it I've got nothing left. One more sting in the tail up a nice muddy hill into the wood and god it was muddy, I was just waiting for the other runner to pass me, but he didn't, the greasy muddy hill took it out of him. I entered the racecourse and I could see the finish, I crossed the line in 1.33 and was exhausted, someone came over to me and said I had finished 8<sup>th</sup> I couldn't believe it, my first race in the lakes and I managed a top ten finish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My first taste of the Lakeland Trails was really good it was such a relaxed event and very well organised, would I return? Definitely.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/44722896/embed/32799955a922f2a3dc359a5101fcea6297ed4617" width="590"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11551389292774095846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5817442163019797460.post-51764578436193730412013-12-10T09:05:00.001-08:002013-12-10T09:06:34.198-08:00Hell Up North 2012<p dir="ltr">So after completing all the wainwrights, what next? a few local people told me about a race they had done the previous year called HellRunner (Hell Up North), so I looked it up and decided to hit the enter button. That was it my first race since my school years, 11 miles around the forest with a bog or two thrown in, can’t be that hard could it?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Race day came and boy it was chilly, just above freezing, the forest was full of harden runners and me not so hardened. I made my way over to the start once wave 1 had gone and 30 minutes later we were off. Straight into it the route took us up the old pale, I’m not too bad on hills, I think all my walking helps with that, so I was sitting just behind the lead group thinking to my self, it’s not too bad this.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After a couple of miles in we hit the forest down small muddy tracks, wave 1 had churned it up nicely by then and the first bog came. I saw a nice big log which sort of lay over the bog and I thought that’s my way across, one or two steps across the log and then straight in I went, I could hardly move, but managing to pull myself out, I scrambled up the bank and onwards . The next few miles were not to bad more muddy hills, streams and then what no one was expecting a LAKE. Lake Lucifa oh joy, I could hear everybody shouting so I decided on the tactic of just run in and hope for the best! it was freezing and it came straight upto my waist. Everyone was trying to stick to a ledge which was the shallow part, mistake 1 gridlock, nobody moved and I was getting colder and colder so I had no choice but to head for deeper water and swin for it! I’m so glad I did otherwise I would of been there another 20 minutes at least, I then made my way out and pressed on. I couldn’t feel my toes and I just wanted to finish now, I then came to the last bog, this was easy compared to the lake and then onwards for the finish line attempting a small sprint finish. I finished in 2hr.11min.17sec, finishing 328 out of 2500.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjjAB-hd_2ijTOFcUgukjFIs2va2wQ6x6Oe8ZBDP0_i_VNhxJ-ej1K5AgtlYM384mZYKmrB1RJ3RG3aRlkh_duSO4FEgKNyaA-TlHKGfC69DZii55AADvbJlGe1L51A6xqLeNvzCpwT0a-/s1600/20130802-194059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjjAB-hd_2ijTOFcUgukjFIs2va2wQ6x6Oe8ZBDP0_i_VNhxJ-ej1K5AgtlYM384mZYKmrB1RJ3RG3aRlkh_duSO4FEgKNyaA-TlHKGfC69DZii55AADvbJlGe1L51A6xqLeNvzCpwT0a-/s640/20130802-194059.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11551389292774095846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5817442163019797460.post-73090221353971933312013-12-10T07:34:00.002-08:002013-12-10T08:50:36.240-08:00Obsession with trailsSo how did my obsession with trail running begin ?<br />
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2 years ago I got invited by some friends from work to go up to the lakes to walk yes walk up some fells . I’ve always been into being outdoors Me and Suzanne had been up a few peaks in snowdonia and a few smaller walks in the Peak District . So off to the lakes I went this was my first hike up the lakeland fells and what can I say I just loved the place it just felt completely different to other places I’ve been very solitude and tranquil . So after a long day in the fells hiking up scafell pike and a few other sorrouding fells my obsession with peaks began one of my friends said he was ticking off all the Wainwrights Fells he said there’s only 214 I thought that’s a bit of a life time challenge . that’s where I was wrong 2 years later I was hiking up my final one all done 214 completed .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBUS0l7SZkjQi-WNqCl6626kQafbBvvK4nBx4liuL6wK6oNsmBps_m7C-zW5LAIVC1vRxaYkox3xBvS2J721IM4mfVYwEn6VfagE_cSpWXn6XiPW9MwxVbLD-qOq-_B2xB6KqTRQe42HH/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBUS0l7SZkjQi-WNqCl6626kQafbBvvK4nBx4liuL6wK6oNsmBps_m7C-zW5LAIVC1vRxaYkox3xBvS2J721IM4mfVYwEn6VfagE_cSpWXn6XiPW9MwxVbLD-qOq-_B2xB6KqTRQe42HH/s640/11.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9srWEVCsj-T4FZZ4Rqx0F_-_tQBUeMGslhDHuQx62ISX61zjH9guCBv3-kBfKiSM1I8LkSPZggWnzvkjEFGfc9D-r4WSG-UNRjxkrcHiP-fi42XNG0ApdT5lpe_9hU1YZLbWxJqXAcXL/s1600/20130724-173333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9srWEVCsj-T4FZZ4Rqx0F_-_tQBUeMGslhDHuQx62ISX61zjH9guCBv3-kBfKiSM1I8LkSPZggWnzvkjEFGfc9D-r4WSG-UNRjxkrcHiP-fi42XNG0ApdT5lpe_9hU1YZLbWxJqXAcXL/s640/20130724-173333.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11551389292774095846noreply@blogger.com0