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Just returned for a great day out at Abingdon marathon. After a very cold start it warmed up slightly to give ideal conditions. I recorded a new PB by 90 secs. Result : 25th position 02:50:23 gun time 02:50:21 chip time 10th in cat. I also believe this is a new club record :-D

Great event and would certainly recommend it. Dad ran his 2nd fastest marathon ever, Sarah did a PB and Rachid who ran as Ian Hall also did a PB running in flip flops (no joke).

I am just back from the inaugural running of an event called the Glenmore 24, centred on Glenmore near Aviemore. It involved completing as many laps as possible within 24 hours of a four-mile forest circuit within the Cairngorms National Park. I managed 84 miles, which placed me 9th of 19 finishers. The winner did 124 miles !

RACE THE TRAIN 10km, August 20th from GERRY SANDERS

This year the train was quicker in both races by 40 seconds [doesn’t sound a lot but it is!!!]. Anyway I ran my fastest time for the 10k [6.27 miles] “Quarry Challenge” and completed it in 51 mins 56 seconds [chip time – there is no other] though my watch time was 51 mins 35 seconds [very strange].  So I beat the train by 2mins 4 seconds. 

I came 50th out of 279 runners which I though was good until I discovered that there were 7 others ahead of me in my race category [50 – 54]. However, at least Amazing Feet had one representative on the day. 

There were a great many other clubs dotted around but these only consisted of very small groups of runners which I think is a sign of the times i.e. the cost of travelling to Wales and accommodation may be a bit prohibitive if you don’t make a full weekend of it also, is still probably cheaper to go abroad !

ROBBERY ! THEFT ! PLAGIARISM ! Eleven years ago when I started to operate Camba Events, it was because I used to train around Kingsbury Water Park and wondered why nobody had organised a race there. So I did, and ten years on, the Kingsbury Classic is still going strong. Last year, Tamworth AC put on a Saturday morning race and called it the Kingsbury Classic much to my annoyance. This year the name changed (though race numbers still bore MY race name) and as it had moved to the evening I decided to give it a go and see what other tracks and paths were around. Imagine my total surprise then, when after an initial 1km loop around the start area, we headed down MY COURSE ! Past 2km, and out around the fishing pools. Past 3km and onto the river bank, then past 4km and still on my course !  A slight difference here as we carried on along the river bank to the next left hand turn from mine, then back on the same course almost to the end of the lap. Here there was another small change, before we headed back out on lap number two.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I'll take the blatant copy as a compliment to my original choice of course : this was fun on a cool Saturday evening, with the rain holding off until we had finished, on a flat and scenic course around the Water Park and river bank. I managed to hold off Julie Caseley and Carol Sharratt, which meant I had a reasonable run, but memo to race organisers : "I don't want or need any more damned mugs !!" 

If the two-year old Malvern Joggers 10km has quickly become my favourite summer race, this excellent event continues to run it close, and is easily my second favourite. The variety of the course and the flatness of it gives the opportunity to press hard throughout the race, though the usual super hot Tuesday evening temperatures do make it a tough 50 minutes or so. Starting on top of a grassy bank beside the busy A38, the race heads downhill and across the grassy fields of Shobnall Fields sports complex (you see this from the A38 on the way up to Derby) before heading over the canal bridge and onto the towpath after about 1 km. A long ran alongside the canal takes runners into Branston Water Park at the 5km point, leaving just after 6kms onto a tarmac road through an estate. A short hill takes runners onto a quiet country lane turning right at 7kms onto the Tatenhill road which leads through Lawns Farm at 8kms and on through green fields to the finish line at the Albion public house where your race memento awaits you - free burgers ! Yes !

To be honest I struggled in the summer heat this year, running at just over 5 minute kilometres through most of the race. However from a 45.02 clocking at 9kms, I managed to find a 4.39 final kilometre to come home within my 50 minute target once again. Excellent race, superb course, and ICED WATER at the finish. Now there's something I've never had anywhere else in over 1100 races.

Well, here are are again, same place, same time. Could it be as good as the first such event in 2009 ? Had time played tricks and enhanced the memory of last year ?  The answer, is an emphatic NO ! This year was every bit as good as last ~ no it was even better.  The sun shone out of an azure blue sky without a cloud to be seen, and a gentle summer breeze took the edge of the evening heat. Underfoot conditions were perfect (for us road runners) with a dry surface to enable a good solid run. Malvern Joggers had made a couple of changes to the course - the stiles through the fields after the first flat mile had been "amended" and no longer created a two minute queue, and a section on roads after a couple of miles had been removed, and replaced later with a detour around the picturesque Gullet Quarry - what a fantastic choice. After a good race at Aldridge on the previous Sunday, I intended to take this one easy and enjoy it, until I met my good friend and oft rival Julie Caseley of the host club and she advised that she was running this year, not marshalling. So, I had to ' go for it ' and managed to knock just under three minutes off my 2009 time, beating Julie in the process. Despite racing it, I absolutely loved the race - awesome views across the valley as we descended in the evening sunshine, friendly marshals (and so many of them), and quite simply a course to die for. The one minus point ? Just the moron who ran with a vuvuzela all the way round blowing it incessantly and ruining the perfection of a quiet summer evening - ah well, we should have the next three MJ10kms without a World Cup ! THIS IS WITHOUT DOUBT THE BEST MULTI-TERRAIN on the local scene ~ where were you all ?

For the eighth time (and the sixth time in six years) I tackled the Tour of Derwent Valley in Derbyshire ~ a series of four short but hilly races in different venues over the Whitsun Bank Holiday. David Denton has organised this for the last 21 years, and it is an excellent reflection of early season form going in to the busy summer racing calendar. Friday night's 4.2 mile road race is hilly, but not too bad, while Saturday afternoon's multi-terrain event over the same distance has a steep off-road climb which continues on the road for a mile or more, ahead of a fast downhill final mile or so. Sunday sees my favourite race which is over five miles, hilly but not too bad, before the final stage on Monday morning which is quite simply a fell race on the road : 1 in 3 hills up and down and I HATE IT !

My overall time this year was less than a minute slower than in 2009, but my finishing position (51st out of 60) left me feeling uncomfortably close to the back. It would seem that the slower runners with whom I share the roads have disappeared, and my chances of reaching a tenth Tour in 2012 may be in some jeopardy. The promised tee-shirt for completing all four races didn't appear due to only 14 entries having been received pre-event, so for the first time I have nothing to show for my endeavours. Normally this wouldn't matter, but four hilly races in four days deserves something to pose in.  There is another race tomorrow (June 1st) which I was thinking about, but two hilly walks after the last two races have taken their toll. I think I'll put my feet up instead.

JURASSIC COAST CHALLENGE, March 26-28th from IAN HALL

VO two now offer a broad range of events, but the Jurassic Coast Challenge, now in its sixth year, was their first. The fairly steep £150 entry fee gets you very slick organisation over three days, minibus transport to and from each day’s start and finish, very well stocked checkpoints (i.e. hot and cold drinks including Elete water, filled rolls, cereal bars, bananas etc), T-shirt, decent engraved glass memento, chip timing etc. Their accommodation package, as an add on at the time of online booking was, I thought, pretty good value at £35 per night for my own room in a well equipped static caravan, including breakfast and dinner. 

The event’s slogan is “78.6 miles 3 days 2 feet” from which you’ll gather it’s basically three marathons on three consecutive days. I was one of about 225 competitors tackling the Friday-Sunday three day event, of whom 176 finished, but there were others doing either one or two days, mostly on the Saturday and/or Sunday. The overall distance turned out to be just over 80 miles, details as follows. 

Day 1 – Charmouth to (near) Weymouth, 26.11 miles in 5:19.34, 51/176 finishers 

Personally I thought this was the toughest of the three days, even though it was the shortest. It was a pretty hilly route, especially at the start, but the main issue was deep mud over the first 18 miles. After that it flattened out to run parallel to Chesil Beach, back to the holiday park where the event was based, including about three miles on the shingle for which Chesil Beach is famous. 

Day 2 – Weymouth to Lulworth Cove, 27.10 miles in 5:05.54, 34/176 finishers 

This to me was the easiest day, in that it started from close to the holiday park where we were staying, so no stiffening up on a minibus. Day two started with a flat run on tarmac over the causeway to Portland, for a circumnavigation of the peninsular (which included a couple of stiff climbs) and then back across the causeway. After that came a rather surreal section dodging shoppers through Weymouth town centre, then a run along the very long Weymouth seafront, finished off with 8 miles of brutal hills past Durdle Door to Lulworth Cove. That included a few sections of deep mud, but nowhere near as bad as Day 1. 

Day 3 – Lulworth Cove to Poole, 26.86 miles, 26/176 finishers

The final day started with a minibus journey back to where Day 2 ended. That meant about 18 miles of hills to Swanage, followed by a short but pleasant tarmac section skirting the town then along the seafront, with a mile or two on soft sand. The last few miles involved a final stiff climb over a headland and then down to the Studland Bay beach, for the final three miles on the beach to the outskirts of Poole. 

Overall result: 32/176 finishers.

If anyone fancies something a little more hardcore than this, there were about 70 runners doing what’s called the “Oner”, which involves doing the whole route non-stop, starting at 6:00pm on the Saturday night. Outstanding achievement!  Anyway, I have a month to grow a new set of toenails before the 150 mile five day Vango Scottish Ultra on Islay and Jura in early May, but I do plan to do another of these three day VOtwo coastal events later in the year. If you’re interested, take a look at the Pembrokeshire Coastal Challenge in early November.

Just returned home from a visit to the parents and a day of racing for first claim club Amazing Feet RC. As preparation for the Half Ironman in June I took part in the Halesowen Aquathon this morning. This was my first ever swimming race in my life. As you can imagine I was very nervous. The race was a 400m swim followed by 5km run on a cold and wet morning. I came 6th and 1 second behind my team mate Ste Hawkes. My overall time was 27.28 (7.58 swim/19.30 run). Was a great experience and great practice for June's tri.

Due to the early start of this race I took the opportunity to compete in another Worcestershire race. I arrived 10min before the race start at the Treat multi terrain 8 which was just enough time to register and change. Running in my wet road shoes from earlier in the day and swimming shorts still wet I felt under prepared. After 400m of the race I managed to loose a shoe in the mud (due to my trainers having elastic tri laces) but this didn't deter me. I had a strong run and even with a group of us having navigation issues due to a missing Marshall I came home in 2nd place in a time of 49.34. A surprise result and beat a local runner Simon Link who I have been trying hard to beat for 5 years.

Sorry if this is garbled. Just drove down the M1 and am now in the land of the Zombies.

I ran the South Devon Marathon (27.5M) last Saturday 27 March, coming 58 of 170 finishers in a time of 5:14:34. Only three sub-4 hour finishers, so a pretty tough course ! This is one of seven events in the 2009/10 Coastal Trail Series, organised by Endurance Life. The outward half hugged the coast on narrow, very steep, very muddy trails, before turning inland for the homeward half, along equally steep and muddy bridle paths. Eight to ten 400ft+ ascents and descents thrown in for good measure ! Expensive (£49), but very slick and professional event.

Three of Amazing Feet's finest travelled to Church Stretton to-day to take part in the Long Mynd Valleys fell race. The race started with a little fog on top of some of the climbs, but this cleared for the end of the race. Thanks to Craig Lewis for chaperoning me round the course.

MAYHILL MASSACRE, February 7th from SARAH ARMSTRONG

What an exhilarating race for a cold February morning ! There was mud, mud and more mud with lots of tough ups and downs over this 8.5 mile race. Mudclaws tied on with extra laces were essential. You need to get there in plenty of time to get parked and your chip, and although there is not much in the way of facilities, a hosepipe in the farmyard at the end was very helpful in washing off the mud to see where your laces were to be able to peel your trainers off. Very cheery marshals ! this was a superb race if you want a basic, muddy off-roader through woods probably with good views, but it was cloudy this time. I would recommend it !

So, the Bells of Pattingham Run celebrated it's 20th birthday to-day, and to be honest it is still enjoying good health. OK - £16 to enter on the day is a joke, and even though we pay more to enter every year, the slice of fruit cake at the finish continues to get smaller !  To-day, the sun shone and the ground was nicely hard, and the annual horse-brass at least showed some originality with a nice '20' design to celebrate. This was my 15th BOP run, and my 10th in the last 10 years. Great to see a good number of FEET there to take part, and even better to see IAN HALL back on his feet supporting the club runners. And, I knocked 15 seconds of last year's excellent time, so good stuff all round. Here's to the next 20 runs - happy birthday BOP.

This was a 9am start - I thought as I left at 6am I had plenty of time to get there and sorted. Knowing parking in Cardiff is a nightmare, but there was no other way in ~ no trains or park and ride. I managed to find parking, then had to queue because of the usual lack of loos, handed my bag in to what looked like an organised baggage area and then tried to get to my estimated finish time in the start queue. It was impossible as it was solid and I got stuck at 1.50. Never mind I thought, I will soon be able to overtake...it took eleven miles of skipping on and off pavements, through traffic cones and avoiding people who just stopped in the narrow lanes. As for lovely scenery, I was looking at mine and everyone else's feet, trying not to get tripped up. I did notice a car park we ran through, and we did cross a pleasant park near the end. Having said all that, I still managed 1:34.49 ! It then took an hour waiting in a very cold queue to get our bags back !

I THINK I may have another go next year and get there really really early to be at the start tape, just to see what I could do on this supposedly PB course.

I just hope Richard is still using chip times after Birmingham's slow start ~ I took FOUR minutes to creep to the start line !

(Er - no! Chip times are unofficial, sorry)

These were held at Northumberland Druridge country park. It was a lovely setting right on the coast, just a long way to travel to a race! I came second in my age group as vet>50 in a time of 2:33:22 - 178th overall. My times were 28.59 for 1500m swim,1:22:16 for 40km bike and 39:56 for 10km run (distances were not accurate - i.e. shorter run but longer bike) with transition times T1 1:13,T2 0.58. I came home with a silver medal, and am quite chuffed as it was the first triathlon of
the year with very little bike training.

This was the first attempt by Malvern Joggers at race promotion, and I know from chatting to Chris Barker and Julie Caseley before the race that they were nervous about having got everything right. They needn't have worried - this was, in my opinion, one of the best multi-terrain races that I have EVER taken part in, and you will know how often I race. Fantastic, testing course; thousands of excellent friendly marshals, views to die for, wonderful weather, race memento AND local sausages - and all for £6 ! Race HQ was at Welland Village Hall with excellent parking and facilities, with the race start 500 metres away on the wonderful Castlemorton Common. We were off on time, running across the common to Hancocks Lane, a quiet tarmac road which enabled everyone to get into their running, before the hills to come. Through woodland, fields of rape seed and open grassland to the highest point of the course, where the views across the valley bathed in evening sunshine were fantastic. Then a tarmac downhill stretch led to a water station (with canopy !), before we were sent back uphill. A downhill grass section led to the ford (yes of course I took the bridge) before the final mile along Hancocks Lane to the finish. We all received a bottle of Malvern Spring water, a Malvern Joggers water bottle, and a double sausage burger back at the Pheasant Inn, where the pint of Bankers Draft went down a treat. I feel privileged to have taken part in this first MJ10km, and I strongly urge everyone to give it a go next year. Leave your watch off (time doesn't matter in a multi-terrain anyway) as the three stiles early on will wreck your pace planning anyway and just ENJOY !

DARTMOOR DISCOVERY 32M, June 6th from IAN HALL

David Pye and I ran the 32.4 mile Dartmoor Discovery last weekend (David’s second time), so I thought I’d try to tempt some of you 26.2 mile fun runners into trying something a little more challenging! The 2010 event will take place on Saturday 5 June, so if you’re interested, take a look at www.dartmoordiscovery.co.uk. Princetown on Dartmoor, where the race starts and finishes, is also a really nice place to make a weekend of it. 

The Discovery is organised by a guy called Phil Hampton, who in his day held a number of world records for (very) long distance running. Phil has put together an event that tries to emulate the ultra events of his youth, and you can tell from the quality of the pre-race and post-race information, marshalling, medical support etc, that the event has been organised by someone who knows what he’s doing. Phil also manages to rope in literally hundreds of volunteer helpers from the local running clubs, sea scouts etc, so there were more marshals than you could wave a big stick at; all of whom were really friendly and supportive. You could even have personal drinks, gels etc ferried to specific feed stations, to be handed to you as you got there. 

The course is a single lap through beautiful countryside, picking up a few villages along the way. It is a tough route though as the 32.4 miles is reckoned to include 4,000 feet of ascent/descent, including a number of 1 in 5 and even 1 in 4 hills. This year was made harder still by driving rain from mile 5 to the end, combined with a drop in temperature to 4 degrees instead of the forecast 15 degrees. The prospect of hyperthermia led to quite a few dropouts this year, including Brian Cole, the Marine who’s won the event for the last four years, and Adam Holland, who won this year’s ’10 in 10 Challenge’ over the Windermere Marathon course (wimps!). 

Fortunately I carry rather more insulation than most, so the conditions actually favoured me, hence I went from 51st position at 20k to 42nd at 30k, 36th position at the marathon distance, and 34th at the end out of 118 finishers. I’d estimated a finishing time of somewhere between 5:15 and 5:25, so I was delighted to cross the line in 4:52:43. David came in 102nd in a time of 5:54:48; remarkably only 8 seconds slower than his 2008 time – a fantastic achievement in view of the conditions this year. 

After a hot bath and a change into warm clothes it was time for a few pints of Jail Ale (Princetown is home to the famous Dartmoor Prison) in the Plume of Feathers pub, which acts as race HQ for the Discovery, and the awards ceremony. The Discovery attracts a very high proportion of repeat runners, and having tried it once, I can understand why. Even though I intend to be a bit more selective about the distance events I run next year, I have already blocked out the weekend of 5-6 June for the 2010 Discovery. It would be great to see a few familiar faces there, so give it a go!

As you will have seen from the forum, the race was more like a carnival than a mundane 10km. It was helped by perfect weather, with sun and a gentle breeze. They used a big playing field outside the sports centre and the whole town came out to support the event with live music/stands/free homemade cakes and local produce including rhubarb, asparagus, cheeses etc. When we ran round the Muller factory the workers were out cheering us on and the last 100m round the field to the finishing line was crowded by supporters cheering us on. All in all a brilliant day, made even better by our times. John was injured so took it slowly, Ian chased me all the way and enabled us to get PB's with Gerry not far behind. I was very pleased with my time, especially as so close to London. I was 2nd lady over 50 with the first over 50 doing an amazing time of 38 minutes !   

It was a great day and Racheal, Chris, Gerry and I had a relaxing time in the Fox pub sipping water & lime soda on the Saturday. On Sunday, Louise, Anita and I had a green start whilst the rest were blue . This year the green start was much better organised and we got a good start. I was feeling good till 19-20 miles then struggled and had to walk/run the last 6 miles. Still really pleased with my time -a PB and 18th lady in my age category.

Hi Richard and Happy New Year and well started with your race ! There were just three of us that braved Hereford  - David Whymant - 43.23 : 69th out of 225, Ian Hall - 44.53 92nd out 225 - and me 46.07 (PB - nice for New Year), 110th out 225. Despite my PB I got overtook by a dog dragging his owner along - I thought he was a sleigh dog I think in the first couple of icy slippy kms ! Shame there wasn't a nice sunny blue sky to look good against the frosty trees and fields ! I went for a quick wizz round the cathedral afterwards - sadly Mappa Mundi bit shut and the cafe. The cafe at Queens Wood was also shut so arrived home starving ! Am awaiting takeaway to open - please be open!

I have been away skiing over Christmas, but I have just found the results, if I can call them that, from the Brackla harriers Merthyr Mawr Pudding run that I did on December 14th. It was one of those kill or cure runs - but it didn't work. I was on antibiotics two days later, I crawled round a pretty tough and very cold 10km very mutli-terrain course in 54.06, came 16th VF, position 246 out of 583 finishers.

BOURNVILLE LEAFY 10km, October 5th from MARK COOPER

Just to let you know that I also ran the Bournville Leafy 10k on Sunday 5th and although I keep checking the Bournville Harriers website, the results have yet to be posted. They did say on the day that they would be available on the website on the same day, but for whatever reason there seems to have been a delay. There are however loads of photos of the race (well over 350 of them) and I got captured on a couple as I neared the finish line. I will let you know when I come across any official times for the race, my unofficial time was 53’ 53”, which I was quite pleased with given the conditions. I was thinking as I was running around that we should be renamed Webbed Feet rather than Amazing Feet !

What a day – just as much mud as the Ash Eight ! My right ankle has been a bit “iffy” this week, so I was trying to go very carefully, but the mud won in one place and sucked my shoe off ! The first time I’ve ever lost a shoe & it was tied on tight too. The start and finish field was like a swamp. I’m just off to scrub my trainers (again!)

No doubt you'll be busy putting on the results from North Worcs race. Well, I had finished before they started ! It was an 8 o'clock start, pouring with rain and very cold. Nonetheless a good race with a 5km run ,30km bike (quite hilly) then a repeat of the 5km. My time was 1:47:20, 4th FV, 98th overall and 10th female. Splits 21.39,1:02:01,23.40

We have just returned from Cornwall and Shaw has just gone down. We all ran the Truro Half Marathon today. Shaw finished 16th in 1.26.25 for 12th senior male. David kindly ran with me as I have done no training apart from a 10 mile and a bit  run across the Bay and last weeks 10k. I decided I would see if I could still run 13 miles. 

I picked a corker of a race. It is described as undulating. David found it good training for Snowdon and Shaw stated afterwards that he told me it was hilly. David felt it the hardest but the prettiest race. I saw parts of the course but even Craig's little voice on my shoulder did not keep me running up the numerous hills. David and I finished the course on a lovely summers day in 2.29.45. David was 16th Male in his category and I was 6th Lady in mine.

So there you go. I can do the distance. Now I have to knock off the cream buns (actually I don't do cream I do savouries) and work on my times only 35 minutes to knock of to get back in the swing.

Colin France and I ran the Birmingham & Black Country Half today, so as we're the first Feet to have done this one, I thought I'd write a race report. The entire route is along a canal towpath, starting at Wolverhampton train station and ending at Brindley Place in the centre of Birmingham, with bag transport provided. It's therefore entirely flat, apart from a dozen or so bridges; the main feature being the quarter mile Coseley Tunnel at about 4 miles, with lighting provided for the race. It was very wet underfoot after the rain of the last few days, but on the whole the surface is pretty good to run on, certainly better than the canals we train on around Kiddy. To avoid bunching the 600 or so field started in waves of 8, one minute apart (timing chips provided), which made it an odd race as there were few others to actually race against. The proceeds go to various charities, so don't enter if the goody bag is important to you (I kept the carrier bag and binned the contents), but I'll be back next year so it would be good to see a few more of you there!

Just to let you know Mark Bailey and I completed the Moel Eilio British Championship round fell race today. It was the toughest thing I have ever done with 3000 feet of ascent. The race started with 1900 feet of climb - at the top I looked round to see only 6 or 7 people behind me. I recovered a bit to finish 227th out of 254. Mark finished 206th. It was the strongest field of runners I have ever run with. The views were fantastic, clear skies, no rain and warm. I'm off now to run Eastnor Castle with Craig Bone.

I did my first marathon yesterday at Stratford and was pleased with my result despite hitting the wall at 19 miles which hit me with groin and calf cramps big time. With over 4 stops it took precious minutes off my finishing time but my goal was to get over the finish line at that stage. This is a PB for me and I believe a new club record. 

My first ever duathlon - very hard work. It was a beautiful venue at Carsington Water with an undulating first 12km run followed by a hilly bike 40km, then a flat 4 km run to finish off with. I had dreadful cramp in both quads after getting off the bike, but was determined to finish, so hobbled along for 2 kms until the cramp eased off. I also had to put my chain back on after changing  down too quickly on a sharp bend. All in all good training for Vancouver. My position was 126th overall, and 3rd F40, in a time of 2.53.54.(1.01.16,1.34.25,18.11 ).

BLACK MOUNTAIN ROUNDABOUT/SHAKESPEARE MARATHON, April 26th/27th from SHAW PYE

Just a quick summary of this weekends running. Yesterday I went to Brecon Beacons to take part in the Black Mountain Roundabout event with Matt Giles. Great weather, amazing views and killer fells !!  The race measured 26 miles with 7,394 feet of ascent - ouch !! It took us 4 hours 44 minutes of non stop hard running (and crawling up the hills).

Today (27th) a crowd of Amazing Feet runners headed to Shakespeare County for what turned out to be a scorcher of a day. What happened to the heavy rain they forecast ? I paced Steven Hawkes until 17 miles and then I pushed on when he started walking.

I did the Llanbedr-Blaenavon category A fell race on Saturday 05 April. 15 miles 4,500 feet climbing. I finished in 3hrs 37mins which is 16 minutes better than last year, so I am encouraged if nackered. The winner was Rhodri Buffet in 2hrs 12mins, but he is young and runs for Britain.

As close to the race as Friday morning, I still wasn't sure that I was up to this - a lingering cold and a severe lack of training added up to tell me it was a disaster waiting to happen. Two training runs of 90 minutes plus on Tuesday and Thursday was basically all I had done, so to turn up and run every step of the undulating (that means hilly) 14 miles around Coniston Water gave a real sense of achievement. And to finish only 6 minutes slower than in 2007 just goes to prove the point - all this training is so over rated !!!!!  For the uninitiated, this fantastic road race follows the lanes around the lake, veering inland between two and four miles, then cutting across the outlet from the lake and back around the eastern side of the lake with stunning views of Coniston Old Man and the lake itself. Killer hills at 11 to 12 miles (I was passing loads of youngsters walking) lead to a fast downhill 13th mile and a flat run through the village back to the finish. Fantastic - where were you all ?

KIPLING KAPER/EDALE SKYLINE, March 29th/30th from SHAW PYE

a Quick report from this weekend. I hear Tthe Scenic 6 was a great success today and AFRC picked up some well earned prizes. 

My weekend consisted of 10,710ft of ascent and 49.66miles of running. It started yesterday at 9am with the Kipling Kaper LDWA event starting in Meerbrook just north of Leek. There were the options of 20, 26 and 28mile runs or walks. Me being me opted for the 28mile mile which turned into 28.9mile due to making a major error in navigation. As always with these types of events the friendliness is most welcoming and the food on route and at finish would be fit for any king. Running down the road after 14 miles eating a hot oatcake was a new experience. I finished first after leaving the rest of the runners after 7 miles. 28.91 mile and 5873ft of ascent in total time of 4h51m47s over the beautiful White Peak area. 

This morning I headed a little further north to the High Peak area to take part in the Edale Skyline 21m fell race which is an event I have wanted to take part in for the last few years but never fits in with spring marathon training. The blue sky blessed us the entire of the race which made the views amazing. The downside was that I was severely overdressed, didn’t take drink with me on the race, sweated buckets and ended up getting dehydrated in the last 3-4 miles which wasn’t pleasant. Lost vision, balance and felt like death which made running on the terrain very scary. Lesson learnt and won’t make the same mistake again. I climbed 4837ft of ascent today over the fells and bog land (mud up to my knees). Steve Clarke also took part and wasn’t far behind me.

After waking up to a snow covered car, this well organised event from Massey Ferguson RC actually started in sunshine, though a cold biting wind kept temperatures down. A traffic-free first mile through the University grounds led to a gentle off-road section around the outside of fields before returning to the road for a second lap. Some slippery mud but nothing too bad, and a tee shirt for finishing in what proved to be a better than expected run for me despite a heavy cold. Note to race organisers : please DON'T lecture us in the cold and wind about not running with I-pods !!! Health & safety gone bonkers !

Well I said that I would run this weekend and run I did . My first race for twelve months. In muddy conditions with a rope climb thrown in for good measure. I really enjoyed myself. Covered in mud soaked  and tired but I did it. A good benchmark for me. I know that I can run just over six miles in ankle high mud so I will now work on my times.

Chris C and I ran at Liverpool this Sunday on a rather wild and windy but sunny day. It was a brilliant run through Sefton Park and Princess Park. Chris definitely did a PB and I think I did too. I was 1:35:33 chip time and 2nd F45. Saw myself + Ian Hall in a picture of Not the Roman 1X  in this months Runners World. Quite spooky to turn the page and see us!

I think my weekends running has certainly challenged or maybe bettered that of Pete and Yourself.

Saturday morning started at 3am for me to get fed and packed ready to pick Matt Giles up at 4am. Once picked him up we travelled up to Threshfield in Yorkshire to take part in the Trollers Trot 24.9
(distance varies dependant on how lost you get) mile off road event across some great terrain and scenery. Consisting of trail, road, bridleways, moorland, fell, running through streams etc etc ...... We started 5 mins late but still managed to reach the lead group by 4-5 miles. The event involved navigating using course notes which were 90% accurate. I finished the event in 3rd place in a time of 3h 23m.

Today I travelled down to Gloucester for the 20 mile event not knowing what to expect regarding my bodies ability. I started off fast with the 2nd group and managed to hold on until 3 miles when I decided that I would crash and burn if I didn't slow down. I dropped off the pace and waited for the group behind to run with which was a slightly slower pace. I pushed as hard as I could today as I'm training myself to run on tired legs after doing the previous days events. I managed to do even pacing throughout the race and had a very strong finish which has pleased me. My finish time 2h07m38s smashes my previous PB and also beats the club record!! Overall a great weekends running combined with 103 miles in the last 7 days.

The first really cold race this season for me. So I allowed myself a thermal base layer and gloves. More importantly I didn't strip off any layers until very close to the start of the race. The course thankfully is quite well protected and the weather didn't deteriorate till towards the end when sleet and snow began to fall. The coffee hut provided welcome refuge after the race and it was good to see Ian Hall back from injury. Judith Hardwick and I were able to help a Worcester runner who collapsed due to hypothermia. Richard Warder (from Kidderminster & Stourport AC) had a blanket to hand and thankfully after 15 minutes he began to recover. A lesson to all of us, not to stand around in the cold after a race without plenty of layers on.

This was my first time doing this and one word to sum it up would be 'eventful'. I had a number given to me many weeks ago by Sarah on here (RW Forum) and my dad managed to get a number from registration 20 minutes before the start today. The start of the race seemed to be slow and very sedate and I nestled in with the lead group but unfortunately that was a little too quick for me. Coming up to 2 miles I had to ease off and let them go which resulted in me losing concentration, falling over at the cattle grid cutting both knees and arm. From this point on my running went to pot due to blood pouring down my leg and I wasn’t really in the mood. I fell in the stream 'twice' and got caught by the guy behind me which was a blessing as I had been running on my own for the last 3 miles. We encouraged each other and I got focused again and regained my stride and concentration. So much so that at 7 miles I managed to pull away from him and re-take my good lead on him. The last bog/stream was in good condition still when I arrived which meant I was able to run through instead of wade. The 'subway' finish was a bit of a contrast to the rest of the race but at least it wasn’t littered by yobs. Shame about the time cock up with the results. Someone must have been too eager with the stop watch. The times they put up on the wall were a lot slower than people’s watches, but the website results seem to be an amended and correct version.

My brother persuaded me to enter this race. We formed a team of three with one of his squash club friends. It is about 8 miles around a farm in pleasant countryside near Olney, Bucks - woods (without footpaths), streams, old railway track, no roads. However there are added obstructions. I have never been so wet in a race - two ponds with water above my waist, stream crossings , long sections running in the stream including one in a tunnel & a sheep dip where you are power hosed at the end. Other obstructions include bales of hay & a quarry. Some competitors seemed to delight in getting as muddy as possible or were in quaint attire such as pyjamas. My brother said one lady was screaming she was agoraphobic going through the dark wet tunnel & another twisted his ankle on the stones in the quarry. I think they could do without the sheep dip - far too smelly, whereas I do not mind the ordinary mud. It is a good race, very enjoyable. They are planning another called Double Bypass which will be 2 laps ! I finished in 1 hour 3min 42 secs in 44th place. First runner home was in 51 minutes & there were 269 finishers. Our Document Genetics (my brother's company) team was 13th out of 23.

After 26 years of running, I learnt something today. If you feel really sick before a race, it is probably best not to run. I did - decided to continue with the second lap because there didn't seem to be many finishers after the first lap (I would have been 6th in fact) then spent the rest of the day feeling absolutely awful until I was finally sick at twenty to ten at night. What was a great shame about this was that the newly re-instated Wellcombe Wobbler was a fabulous event - run over fields high above Stratford with hills to die for, some superb scenery and a small but perfectly formed entry. We received a tee-shirt for entering, Helen Parish finished as second lady and the sun shone out of a blue sky. Shame my sickness spoiled it for me. Next year !

A beautiful day for a race. It was very well organised and friendly, with enough people to create a good atmosphere, but not too many to stop you running at your own pace. Chris and I were both pleased with our times. Neither of us did a pb but I improved over Lake Vrynwy, so getting there. I was 10th lady over 45.

What can I possibly say about this gem that doesn't sound false ? Fantastic scenery. Brilliant organisation. Wonderful atmosphere. Blue skies and bright sunshine. This was my first trail race, and knowing the course took us high into Coniston through the Coppermines Valley, round the Pudding Stone, then down to the Walna Scar Road, on to Torver and back along the lakeside. I was unbelievably nervous at the start. I started off too fast, walked after 2.5 kms with everyone else, ran in a new pair of Puma Trailfox shoes which gave me a blister, and thoroughly ENJOYED IT ! Great tee shirt to pose in at Malvern and Pattingham - this one is a must for next year. All of you !

This was the first Enville 10km, organised by the football club, and hopefully it will be the last. This was a two lap race, all off-road within the grounds of Enville Hall, and to be honest had some fantastic scenery. However, the climb after 2kms meant that this should really have been a fell race, in which case I would have avoided it anyway. Just before the worst of the climb we were faced with marauding sheep trying to get through the same gateway as we were, who fortunately veered away from the line of runners and waited for a gap. Unlike the group of 50 or 60 cows in a later field, who galloped across and through the runners twice, at huge risk of death or injury to all of us. Worst of all was the ninety degree right hand turn after 3km, which was not marshalled, and not marked. Fortunately, I was with a young lady from D-KRC who spotted the error, and we went the right way - 60 percent of the field didn't. It did mean that Lucy Cambridge and myself were actually leading the race just after 3km, along with Paul Rogers, before we were engulfed by returning faster runners who had gone way off course. Add to that the ONE toilet for us fellas, no km markers anywhere, and a fairly hefty £5 entry for NO reward, and I suspect entry numbers will be well down in 2008.

HAWKESBURY UPTON MOUNTAIN BIKE ORIENTEERING, July 22nd from SHAW PYE

On Sunday I travelled down to Hawkesbury Upton just south of Dursley to take part in a mountain bike orienteering event today seeing as I still can’t run. I wanted to do something competitive to keep the adrenaline pumping. First time I have done orienteering since school and it showed. Got lost several times and tried to be a bit too clever with my route planning which backfired. At least I know what needs to be ironed out in case I do another one. I covered 30.7mile and 5800ft ascent in total and was out for 4hours and 20mins. 

Some tracks were streams, cow pats like I have never seen before and bridleways which looked as if they hadn’t been used since the 50’s. All in all a good day.

Results 

Winner - Nick Calkin, 14 controls visited, 480 gross score, -4 penalty for being late, 476 final score

 18^th – Shaw Pye, 10 controls visited, 280 gross score, -80 penalty for being late, 200 final score

Last 24^th – Jim Potter, 10 controls visited, 250 gross score, -250 penalty or being late, 0 final score

This is part of a Pentarathon series run by Oswestry Olympians (the Club who put on Vyrnwy Half), but the main draw is that it runs right past my parents house.  The floods and diversions we had to drive through on the way did make me think I was slightly mad for even attempting to start this.  The route is undulating and this year took place in torrential rain and through several ankle deep "water hazards".  The highlight was seeing my children in pyjamas and waterproofs cheering me past before they went to bed

I have just come back from holiday in the Lakes and am just giving you my race results for the Puma Trailfox Garburn trail race I completed on June 3rd. It was a half marathon and my first fell race and to be honest nearly killed me  . . . I think next time I decide to tackle something like that I should do some hill training first (like running up and down the Malverns). It was really hard and I maybe should have entered a smaller race first but to be fair I am glad I have done it and will most likely enter again next year as it was definitely a big challenge for me . . . . . I was 334 out of 359 and ran it in 2 . 39 . 58 .   I should have liked my time to be better but there is no way I could have done better ! Next year though, with some training, who knows????

This was quite simply the best weekend ever. My first marathon since 2000 when I retired from such silly things, and having entered this race in April 2006 I had the pleasure of wearing race number 1. This was also my 20th marathon, and by a little bit of cheating last weekend, my 900th race. The weather was superb, with blue skies, sunshine, and a cool breeze, and the scenery for 26.2 miles was breathtaking. Mind you, so were the hills !  Organisation was of the highest standard with more marshals than I have ever seen before, and the finish was just perfect, crossing the finish line with Lake Windermere in view across the field. Shaw Pye and Simon Gregg also ran, with Greggy knocking 35 minutes off his PB. Mind you, 21 years after the last Windermere marathon that I finished in 4:02, I was only 10 minutes slower this year. And I was 10 minutes FASTER than that last marathon in 2000. The strange thing ? 24 hours later I feel absolutely fine and could happily run again. Bring on the next one.

I competed in my first triathlon this season on a fabulous day with perfect weather at Tewkesbury, with a flat bike ride and a fast run. I would really recommend it for any first timers. It was 400m swim, 24k bike and 5k run. I was third lady overall and first super vet ! (I'm not so sure about being a s-vet !) My times were 8.02,44.28,18.56 with a total time of 1:11.26.

Not quite sure where to pitch this one - Shobdon Wood is out in the middle of nowhere, and this 6 miler was on forest tracks & paths. Hardly saw another living soul in the woods apart from marshals and runners, and the hills were better known as mountains ! Two going up, and one coming down. The views at the top were magnificent, and the last mile through the bluebell woods was flat and fabulous, like running across a blue carpet. Medal ? No ! T-shirt ? No ! We got a jam doughnut with our cup of water ~ fantastic !  Small friendly field and a brilliant way to spend London Marathon morning.

I was just e-mailing you to let you know that myself and my dog Mackay ran in the Cani X today at Cheltenham. The Cani X are races that you can only enter in if you run with one or more dogs. Anyway we did a 5.4km run (says 5km on web site but is 5.4km) we got 2nd in female vets cat....strange sort of running surface as it was a combo of tarmac and wood chippings. I don't know how many ran but our time was 28mins and 20 secs..  i think (tbc).   See you soon
Oh I hope all those at London did as well as they hoped today...fingers crossed....

I was just e-mailing u to let you know that I beat my half marathon time by 16 minutes today which I am very pleased with ... reckon the club is doing me the world of good. Oh also Tori and Abbie both completed the 1 mile fun run in about 6.30mins so they were very pleased. (TRACEY SNOW)

My pre-race for this one was about as bad as possible. A seven am wake-up call led to an eight o'clock departure, with a detour to a post-box with Sunday collections to post four ROC 8 entry forms off to someone. My chosen route via the A429 ended up with a massive diversion due to road closures at Moreton-in-the-Marsh, and an unanticipated loo stop at Stow-on-the-Wold. My on-road parking space had long gone as we stopped on the main car park (£4.50 !!!) at 9.45, with just 45 minutes to go. I had to hand over a bag of cheques for the Leamington Regency 10km, collect a box of entry forms for the same race, and then put out various other race forms at the race HQ. Talk about stressed and wound-up. How amazing then that on this super flat, super fast course, I set my course record time, which also happened to be my fastest 10km for 26 months. The morning weather was superb, just a pity the rain came as we were eating chips on a bench overlooking the river in the centre of BOTW.

Sarah and I had a jolly time. We nearly missed the race as the traffic getting into the park was atrocious. We ended up leaving the car in some side road and jogging to the park. When we arrived we realised just what a big event it was with all the counties in the south of the country & Wales, taking part. There were 400 ladies in the over 20's race of 8km.The slightly longer distance suited me and my only claim to fame was not being the last Worcestershire runner to come in. Sarah did well but suffered two horrible blisters. The event was televised on sky sports and Hayley Yelling took first place. All in all, quite an experience, especially starting in pens !

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS from SARAH ARMSTRONG

It was an 8km run, pretty tough terrain. First over the line was in 29.33 Hayley Yelling, European
Champion, who was selected for the World Championships, so NOT much competition then !!!

Never Again!!

I allowed my mate Dave Chisman to persuade me to go to the Long Mynd Valleys fell race on Sunday (04 February). It's 12 miles and 5000 feet of climbing. That's bad enough, but you should see the 5000 feet of descending. Amazingly, I was not the only Foot, as I saw Richard Haynes several times in the event. I give below brief results, but must stress that Richard spent possibly 30 minutes waiting for his colleague Tony Mills. Good job it's only once a year.

A good turn out for the second of this years race league took us to Stourbridge for the Stagger, a 10 mile multi terrain race around Stourbridge, Hagley and Churchill. A quick recee on the way showed the ground conditions to be frozen but soft where it had thawed. Luckily the sun came out to warm us all up and to burn through the mist. A great result for Shaw Pye who finished 6th overall after finishing 2nd in his fell race yesterday. A good run from myself after having done no training in the week prior saw me 7th (I think) club member home managing in the process to knock off nearly 12 minutes from my 2005 time, and only be 5 minutes short of my 10 mile road PB!, don’t ask me where my speed came from because I don’t know.

I also ran today in the Blaythorne 10mile race at Cambourne in Cornwall. I managed to get a PB but I couldn’t quite duck under the hour L. After battling sun, wind, rain and hail all within 10 miles, I managed to finish 12th in a time of 60m 48s. The race entry limit was full (400 limit) so I’m guessing about 350 finished. Once I find the official results I will let you know. The course was undulating but had a few flat miles in the middle part of the course. The last mile was all uphill which my body didn’t agree with.

MIDLAND MASTERS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS, JANUARY 21st 2007 from LINDSAY PULLEY