Hibernation? Hell no....

Whilst others were recovering indoors from the chocolate overload the day before Angie grabbed two of her mates Helen Gaskell and Lucy Bell for a run up Scafell Pike in the Lake District, you can join them here:

The Swaledale Marathon Fell Race, 9th June 2013

I’m writing this after getting back from a mint evening ride at Hamsterley in the glorious balmy sunshine!!  For some reason my legs feel flippin' mint after feeling absolutely dead last week after the Swaledale.  Here's how it went.....

On the 9th June it was Swaledale's fell race day, when I was younger, maybe 12, maybe 13 years old or there abouts I used to come to the fell races with my parents and help out at the checkpoints.  I always remember the Swaledale as being a nice summer race and promised myself that one day I would sit on the other side of the fence and race it myself.  It seems a shame with the year my Dad quits racing that I picked up my trainers to compete in this one, it used to be one of his favourites.  

So anyway, I entered back in January and then focused my attentions on the Allendale challenge race in March (which can be read here: The Allendale Challenge) after that I kind of stopped running. I mean with the weather improving and the evenings becoming lighter my bike started getting more use again.  It wasn’t until a few weeks before the race that I remembered and then thought "Oh shit, I need to start running!".  I’d left it too late though, if I started training my legs would be probably worse during the race than if I didn’t train at all therefore I didn’t bother, merely doing a four-mile run with Steve’s mum the week before as a warm up. 

I arrived at the village hall at Low Fremington (which is near Reeth) in North Yorkshire on the Saturday morning, got myself checked in and was happy with my race number ‘510’ (the mountain bike lot will guess why!).  

The racing started at 9.30am and off I went, it started with a bloody big hill climb, it was relentless and my heart rate was off the hook!  It was also the hottest day ever, with no clouds to be seen Mary (Steve’s Mum) had smothered me in sun tan lotion.  

There were about 12 checkpoints altogether, it seemed to take forever to get through them all.  I only had one bottle of juice and had drunk it by the first checkpoint but I knew I would be able to re-fill there.  I re-filled my bottle at every checkpoint however once I hit the Gunnerside one later in the race I thought it would be a good idea add some salt to my intake as I had been getting cramp in my calves during the last few miles and knew I needed salt in the system to get rid of it.  Maybe I had put in a bit too much though, with just four miles to go until the next checkpoint I was stuck with salty water which tasted disgusting!  Gutted!!

Anyway, I cracked on and eventually got some fresh stuff, the last checkpoint was in view, I had just one more climb to go and then a descent the rest of the way.  I seemed to get a second wind (stop that tittering at the back!) and overtook about seven people, three of them were the girls that I had been passing and being passed by from all day.  No way in hell were they passing me again, I just ran through the pain and kept going!  

It was coming close to the five-hour mark and I really didn’t want to go past that so turned my music up and got my head down!  I came into the finish where there were loads of people waving and cheering me on, the sun was still boiling and I was sweating so much!  I got 4hours 59mins!!  Get in there!!  Considering I'd had no training for this event I was buzzing!

Gonna train like a weapon next year and smash it out with faster time I reckon.  I’m down this neck of the woods again next weekend for the ‘ArdRock Enduro’ Can’t wait!! 

Cheers you guys,

Angie xx Tweet

Welcoming in the New Year.....with a fell run!

Admittedly we're not your run-of-the-mill bike team, although I guess you already worked that out by now, all of the team thrive in the great outdoors.  

Whilst the throngs of people congregated in various places to see in the New Year both Angie and Steve were snuggly tucked up in bed to see it in in a different way......with a fell run...... here's Angie with the commentary....

Steve and I decided that 2013 going to be all about doing new and memorable things ...and what a better way to start the year off than with a cheeky run up the Great Gable, which the seventh highest mountain in England!

Naturally it had been chucking it down cats and dogs the week leading up to it however we decided to just go regardless to what Mother Nature could throw at us.  The weather wasn’t that bad in the morning when we woke, just low cloud.  

An hour and a half later we were at Seathwaite Farm in Borrowdale and quickly got ourselves ready, trainers on, lightweight jackets and a small rucksack with a map and a drink, easy!  The fells above looked grey and oppressive, the low cloud meant we couldn't see if there was any snow up top …it was very atmospheric, pure Lord of the Rings!

Off past the farm we went and along the track over Stockley Bridge, up ahead we could see the first climb and it started to go up, and up, further on it went, and went, we pushed on and pushed harder, the lactic build up telling you it was a good work out.  Just imagine being on a stepper machine at the gym for a good 30 mins solid at high intensity, yeah?  OK, I think you got the picture a little there!  

As we climbed we kept looking back over the views that were starting to open up across the Borrowdale valley, it was a beautiful feeling to know that it was New Year’s Day and there wasn't another soul to be seen, just us and nature.  It's a canny good feeling that!

It started to ease up as we ran along a singletrack path beside a small beck, trying to get our breath back as the terrain became a bit more tricky underfoot.  Boulders and ankle twisters at your desire!  The path lead us to the edge of Sty Head Tarn, from here you can either head off to Scafell and the surrounding fells or head towards the right for the Gables.  This is where we were headed, off up Great Gable. 

(Edit: Lee here, I cannae get this darned photo to centre, sorry!)

The fell gets a lot of foot fall on Remembrance Sunday (11^th Nov) when hundreds of people and a priest summit the mountain to hold a service around the memorial and show respect for the men and women who fought in the war.

Having got our breath back it was time for another steep incline up the south face of the mountain, man-made steps have been put in here and it’s a bit of a thigh killer.  As we got further up the steps disappeared, a drop in concentration could mean a twisted ankle, or worse, best to be on your guard.  The over night rain had iced over on the rocks, it was incredibly slippery just like running on wet glass.  But then, that's all part of the challenge.

Reaching the 700 metre mark we started spotting patches of snow and little flurries were coming down, rather magical.  Not long later we were at the top, the wind was just so bloody strong that it was freezing our faces and fingers off. You could just see across to Scafell where there was quite a bit of old snow on the tops.  We both chucked on warmer jackets and buffs, then set off to run down to the Windy Gap (titter ye not!). 

When you're out on the fells you soon learn how quickly the weather can change, literally in a snap of the fingers.  Mist had dropped and we couldn’t see much around us, it was so much fun though once we got some speed up, it was like being on a downhill bike and picking lines the whole way. Excellent fun!

Got back down to the Sty Head Tarn and then just cracked on all the way back to the car.  This wasn't before heading off the trail after finding some sweet sheep tracks with off-camber sections mind, we raced each other picking the high lines.  Such fun! (Thank you 'Miranda'!)

Back at the car it was an easy decision to make..... a pub lunch you say? Well how could we not!? Mmm, most delectable! Haha!

Lake District fell runs are going to be one of my main staples for 2013! 

Absolutely loved it!

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Up hill and down dale, the Kilburn Kanter Fell Race....

As the rain falls incessantly outside, summer seems such a long time ago....

Here's Angie's blog update from the Kilburn Kanter Fell Race.

Having not ran out on the fells since April last year I thought it would be a good idea to enter a 24-mile fell race, just for the craic!

With just two weeks to train you could find me in the evenings out there on the moors with some three to ten mile runs, oh and the odd eight mile walk!  Managed to pull my groin muscle as well so had a semi-limp going on for the week leading up to it, no smutty jokes from you lot thank you!

 Angie in training, well, posing on the fells....

My dad fell races all year round and it’s something I like to do over the winter, on one side it keeps me fit in the off-season and on the other I get to share something with my father.  This time I decided to do the race with Steve’s mum, Mary, she does quite a bit of running as well but mainly road and trail over shorter distances.  As you can probably tell this was going to be a challenge for both of us!

Angie and Mary

The route was down in the North Yorkshire Moors starting from Kilburn, a wee village near Thirsk (and not to be confused with the place in London!), the scenery in North Yorkshire is absolutely amazing all year round.  Both of us wanted a good night's sleep before the event so we booked into a friendly B&B aiming to be as fresh as possible for an 8am start the next day.  We awoke to a frosty morning and it looked set to be a beautiful day.  Our breakfast of porridge was soon down the hatch, got our numbers sorted out, kit check done and off we went.  There were about 150 people doing it with a mix of runners and fast walkers.  Following the route with our map and description across the Hambleton Hills hoping we wouldn’t get lost, I have to say that it’s bloody hard to navigate and run at the same time!

It had been raining hard all week leading up to the race, it was heavy going in some places with mud and clag all up your legs weighing your feet down. Great slippy fun but I love being up to the eyes in mud!  It makes it more exciting! 

We came across the first checkpoint, got our tally card stamped, grabbed a quick drink and carried on.  It’s best not to stop at all if you can help it as you lose time, annoyingly people might overtake and you end up stiffening up.  Once past the six mile mark we knew we were a quarter of the way around.  Passing some more check points further on we struggled with our navigation losing track of where we were.  After some dithering around it was best to back-track and head back on to the Cleveland Way, phew!  We lost about ten minutes and ran an extra mile, god dammit!!

The halfway mark loomed, 12 miles in and still feeling relatively fresh, we both grabbed a Mars bar which gave us a bit of a second wind.  Mary was struggling with food as she’s not used to running and eating.  I like to think of it as an excuse to eat a bit more so down the cake hole it went!  Mmmmm, chocolate!

Even though the second half had more hills it psychologically felt as though it was all be going to be downhill, errr..... nope!  There was 3,500ft of ascent and most of it was all in the second half.  

The beautiful Lake Gormire, Photo by Alan AKA The Tall Guy 

We passed some amazing scenery by Lake Gormire and then ascended a steep, and by that I mean a totally lung-busting steep-ass single-track climb up onto Sutton Bank Top.  My dad likes to call this the 'Cardiac Attack Hill' and the last checkpoint was at the top.  

Sutton Bank Top, scenery doesn't get much better than this.  Photo reproduced with the very kind permission of Adrian Ashworth, http://www.adrianashworth.co.uk 

Took a quick swig of juice and then just three miles left along the cliff top past the famous White Horse at Kilburn – we felt like jumping on its back and hitching a ride back by that point!  A young couple were on our tail and pushed it on a bit faster!  Our legs at this point were getting a bit sore and we couldn’t wait to finish!

The White Horse of Kilburn

Finally we were running back along the road into Kilburn, handed in our tally cards and got our finish time of 5hrs and 52 mins.  I reckon that’s not bad considering we got lost and hadn’t really done any practice, a nice jump in at the deep end I’d say and I can’t wait to do another one!!  Bring on the winter running….

At the end of the event, Mary's poor feet....

Hope all is well out there with you guys,

Angie

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