It's been ages since I posted on here - six months in fact.
Since then I raced at Clee Hill and then ran round the Long Mynd Valleys with Zoe, raced the Pendle Champs race and Cribyn.
But four fell races for the year is a fairly low return - mostly because we have been ultra running and mountain marathoning again.
The MM's completed to date are:
2013 RAB - short score
2014 Dark Mountains - short score
2014 Saunders - Kirkfell class
2014 Marmot24
In addition we did the Great Lakeland 3 Day together which is a bit of a crossover between mountain marathon and ultra stage race, with easier navigation but longer days. We managed to complete the Elite route on the Saturday and the Monday, but Zoe's knee was injured midway through Saturday so in foul weather on the Sunday we decided to cut from the Elite to the B course to stay off the highest fells.
In Ultra stuff we DNF'ed the LDWA100 in hideous wet cold conditions on the May Bank Holiday weekend, but neither of us were that bothered as we'd been round it all at Easter on some enjoyable reccie runs. It was a shame for Zoe though, she was moving really comfortably whilst I got so cold I had to stop. Lesson learned - your layering solution has to trap warm air NEXT TO THE SKIN so it's no good wearing a baggy fleece.
We slipped the WOW50 (Wenlock Olympian Walk) in between the Saunders and the Marmot 24, so July was a pretty heavy month) and I found that pretty hard going in pouring rain but on a hot day for the first 25 (including running virtually past our doorstep). The second 25 was in wet fields then on the railway path through Ironbridge, and mostly I just tried to keep up with Zoe. She dragged me round in the end to a 50 mile PB of about 12:10 (we stopped at just on 50 to find headtorches) and an ultimate finish for the 51 miles of 12:30.
Next up we have the RAB (long score this time) which we're treating as a final back to back long run in our training for 100 Miles Sud de France.
I was trying to put together a list of the Ultras I've done now just so I don't forget any!
2011 (Oct) - Long Mynd Hike 50 mile (13:05)
2011 (Dec) - Tour de Helvellyn DNF after 20 miles
2012 (Feb) - Pilgrim's Challenge 2 x 50k
2012 (May) - Ultra Brecon 40 mile
2012 (Jul) - WOW 50 mile (via Lawley and Clee Hill)
2012 (Aug) - CCC (shortened to 87km in horrible conditions)
2012 (Dec) - Tour de Helvellyn 67/148 in 9:05
2013 (May) - Marlborough Downs Challenge 50k in 6:41
2013 (May) - LDWA Camel-Teign Ivor's Dream 100 mile in 33:52
2013 (Jun) - Three Rings of Shap 100k; 35/89 in 19:32
2014 (May) - LDWA Valleys 100 mile (DNF after 43 miles)
2014 (May) - GL3D Elite Day 1 - 50k
2014 (Jul) - WOW 50 mile (via Wrekin and Bridgnorth) 8/97 in 12:30
