Posts Tagged ‘running’

A wee bit of touristing in Knaresborough. It’s a two lap course with a few short but steep hills in, and a large amount of trail. I ran into Pip on the start line. Didn’t manage to spot Paul but later learned he was also there too, so a good showing from Harriers.

This was the last “c” I needed to finish the Pirates challenge: Cross Flatts, Chevin Forest, Corkagh, Cabinteely, Carlow Town, Christie, Conyngham Hall and Roundhay.

It turns out that five days is not enough recovery time when you’ve run 107k at the weekend. The uphills were hard and the downhills were harder. Still, I made it around in:

1:03:40

Congratulations to to everyone who finished, including several Harriers who took home prizes, and thank you to Horsforth Harriers for staging the event.

When I did Leeds Marathon earlier this month, I decided to treat myself to the VIP experience on the basis that A) it would be a nice welcome home present to myself and B) me eating small finger sandwiches would contribute to valuable research on supporting motor neurone disease.

It was in the Howard Suite which gives you a view of both the rugby field and the cricket ground.

Most of the appeal of all was better availability of toilets. This is a real source of stress for me and has had a big impact on my running so if I can throw some money at it and make the problem go away, that is money well spent. They also provide food before and after the race and somewhere to sit down, although the seating was pretty limited.

I did manage to squeeze in a pastry before the race. There wasn’t much of a lunch buffet after, but they did have some sandwiches and I had a few of those. They had a separate room for baggage with plenty of space, although you could just wander in and out of there so it was less secure than a standard bag drop.

The most challenging part, though, is that with it being in the Howard Suite, these were the stairs we had to navigate. Not ideal after just having run a marathon :D.

Back in the day, Leeds had a marathon. Then, in 2003, just before I became an adult, they stopped having one. And for twenty years there was no city marathon. In 2022, I went travelling. And Leeds announced they were launching a new city marathon. Finally, in 2026, my schedule and the Leeds Marthon schedule lined up. I feel like Baddiel and Skinner should write a song about this.

I’ve had a tough time with marathon running recently, most recently running Dublin Marathon on my birthday. This time, I felt quite anxious for the first four kilometres or so. Maybe it was that feelings of “this is going to be hours of suffering ahead”. After this, though, it mostly went away. I had some light headedness about 16 kilometres in, but otherwise felt good.

I also moved well. My last few marathons have all been around 4:30 mark, so I was expecting to be slower than this with the big hill coming back from Otley. But it just never materialised. I kept ticking kilometres off at just over six minutes. I think I had mentally prepared myself for it to be super hilly, and so once I was up onto the ridge line, and even coming back from Otley, it just never felt that bad. I ran almost the whole way up to Bramhope with only a short walking stint to eat.

At about 34k, the marathon and half marathon routes merge. This meant those of us running a marathon at six minutes a kilometre, and those running a half at what I would guess would be 12ish minutes, were jammed together on the same road. It was hard to find space, and I felt sorry for the half runners who suddenly found themselves swarmed by marathon runners. It was crowded the whole way down Otley Road and into the stadium. Lovely finish line, though.

My time was:

4:02:50

Elina and Venla came to meet me after the race. It was tricky finding each other as both o2 and Vodafone’s networks were down around the stadium.

The support was excellent. I’ve never done London but I’ve done Dublin twice and I would say in Dublin, there are people watching more than there are not people. Leeds wasn’t quite Dublin good but much stronger than any other race I’ve done. I think that says quite a lot given it is not a city marathon: Dublin stays within the city at all times, whereas this is an out-and-back to Otley and still enjoys great support along a lot of the course.

Overall, great race. I would still say it is pretty hilly to make a PB attempt on it, and you risk getting trapped behind half marathon runners. But as a nice day out with great support, it’s a lovely race to do.

Track sessions are back in full flow at Hyde Park Harriers, and I was back coaching last week. I also had the pleasure of leading group one on Monday, including loads of people running with the club for the first time.

Last Sunday I did my final big training run before God’s Own Backyard Ultra. Modelled on last year’s mega run, it was a little shorter: five hours moving time over six hours, rather than six hours moving time over seven hours. But, on the plus side, I did make it almost as far, clocking up 50km, 3km short of last year. Although it is difficult to compare across different routes.

Goole parkrun takes place at West Park and is totally flat. It is two and a half laps that partially follows a horseshoe shape. Some of it is tarmac with the rest of the course being on gravel trail, mud or grass. Plenty of friendly volunteers to cheer us on: thank you to everyone who was there yesterday.

Goole was the last one I needed for the Staying Alive challenge: Burnley, Bramley, Bushy, Griffen, Gorey, Goole.

Punk Panther is a Yorkshire-based race organiser, predominantly doing ultras. I first signed up for one of their events in 2021 but never made the start line. Luckily, I finally did make it to one of their events, and their 10th birthday and 100th event no less. It starts in Otley, loops over hills and fields to Ilkley and then back along the other side of the Wharfedale Valley.

It was certainly outside of my comfort zone with the trails, running past livestock and navigation. But the trails weren’t too technical and after the first half I got into my stride and was able to focus on the physical discomfort, as well as the beautiful scenery. They had a lovely race HQ at Otley Common, including post-race refreshments. I had a cheese toastie and it was good.

If you find yourself in Easingwold, they have a lovely parkrun and an excellent jigsaw shop.

It rained all day. So much for Dry January.

This made things really muddy. There was no escape from the mud. Every time I put my bag down to get something out of it, there was mud all over the floor. My beautiful new changing robe is now covered in mud. There is supposed to be mud on the course – it’s cross country. But it would be nice if there was a safe space somewhere.

The course was nice enough. Not brutally hilly, just regular Temple Newsam hilly. There were several water crossings. The deepest was well above me knee and on some of the shorter people, up to their waist. It is a good job I had my phone in a waterproof bag. I managed to get around without falling over, so that was nice. Might need some specific soft mud shoes for next year, though.

Lots of lovely baked goods at the end. Thank you to everyone who baked and th team captains for organising.