First Fell Race of the Year!

Scenery wasn't too shabby

On the 10th April I competed in the Thomas Theyer fell race, a race I had recce'd a couple of months ago with my friend Helen (see blog post here).  Based in Combs, Derbyshire at the fantastic Whitehall Centre - the race was being run in memory of 18 year old Thomas Theyer who tragically died whilst out fell running near Buxton in 2013.  Before the day, I managed to raise £60 sponsorship and said I was aiming to complete the run in around 1 hour - my blog post was shared by the Thomas Theyer Foundation facebook page and they highlighted my estimated time - the pressure was then on!

It was a beautiful day with a cool wind but lovely warm sunshine - perfect running conditions.  Many of my friends and fellow Striders were competing in the Greater Manchester Marathon, Sheffield Half Marathon or the local Ronde Van Chinley road bike race, and this reflected in the numbers with just 54 runners on the day, 14 of them ladies.

Pete and I before the off!

I felt cool and collected at the start - a bit too cold actually, even after warming up -  the wind was biting - I spotted Pete - the only other Strider entered - was wearing a t-shirt under his race vest and so I dashed back to the car to get my training t-shirt to put under my vest! 


Talking of race vests, I was wearing the new prototype Striders vest courtesy of Caz and Tony at A&C workwear.  I found it comfortable, longer in length - a must for me as I have issues with my stomach (not helped by having a 10lb baby!), and the new graphics with little green trees looked more modern.    I mentioned to Caz that it might be useful to have "Goyt Valley Striders" written across the back of the vest as well as the front, as in races sometimes people address you by your club and this would make it possible for people behind to identify you.  Caz agreed that this was the idea, I just have an early prototype - future vests will have the text front and back all being well.  

Thanks Andy Waring for the Photos!

Once we were off (I only just made it back to the start in time) I found my stride and amusingly had a little chat with a Pennine runner - normally in races I am the one who is talking and usually get one word answers or grunts - anyone who knows me well will understand this - whats that you say? chatterbox? me?!  

Anyway, I felt good going onto Ladder Hill.  I found the stony surface hard going on my ankles down the second part of the hill and concentrated hard on where I was putting my feet, it was funny how many of the blokes were dodging the puddles over the flat track section, I remember a friend (Katy) telling me, you don't worry about getting wet and muddy in races, just go for it!  It definitely gave me an advantage over ladder hill just ploughing through the puddles!  Also it cooled my feet down which were, by now, very warm!

At the left hand turn onto Old Road I was cheered on by Sally (a mum from my sons school) and her lovely girls - they were impressed by my race number! (I was number 1). It is really nice to have people cheering you on, it does make you try that little bit harder knowing they have made an effort to come and support you, especially if it's a grueling race or bad conditions (this race was neither fortunately!).  Further up this rather monotonous road section one of our best pals Glenn came hurtling down on his bike - he was competing in the Ronde van Chinley bike event - we heckled each other and it boosted me up the hill to the next section - a woody track leading to the fields we had previously crossed on the stony section.  

Once back on the track we came to the gateway where a friend Andy was marshaling - he got some great pictures of us all, which is always appreciated! (it helps with the best bit - reminiscing afterwards!).  Next, we headed down a steep muddy field to a cattle grid and I gained a couple of places which is great because I have really worked on my downhill skills as I have talked about in previous blogs.  Back onto the road we headed up to the Beehive pub - I was veering towards the beer garden thinking how welcome a drink (of the alcoholic type) would be right now -  but round the next corner and I was cheered on by another marshal Victoria (Andy's wife) and her Mum Hilary who were doing a great job bucket shaking and directing us runners.  



The next road section saw another chat with a lovely chap from Pennine - he told me he was in the Vet 60 category and had done a 16 miler round Kinder the day before! - I was most impressed!  We stayed together until the next hilly section when I managed to pull away from him and his poor tired legs!  The next section was brutal and involved walking quite a bit.  The lady ahead of me was still in sight but with the gradient of the hills I knew I couldn't catch her in the distance we had left to the finish.  

Once at the top we headed downhill slightly to the finish which was uneventful with nobody close by - I still managed a little sprint - its got to be done!  My mum, sister and her partner Steve were at the finish to cheer me on which was lovely as usually fell running isn't much of a spectator sport, you just finish and go home!

My prize!

Once finished, I learned I had come home 3rd Lady, which I was really pleased with and I thought I had done it in around an hour.  I cheered Pete on to the finish and helped him avoid getting "chicked" on the line! ("she's behind youuuuu!!!")  Back at the centre we enjoyed amazing home baked cakes and flapjacks and as much tea as you could drink - all for a donation to the charity. 

Overall the event was really well organised, laid back and fun, unfortunately I couldn't stay for the prize giving as I had to get home, but kindly Ste Davison who I met at the Macclesfield Duathlon in February took my prize for me - a lovely beanie hat which he posted on to me - thanks again Ste and good luck in your forthcoming Ultra!    

At the bakery in Tideswell

I found out through the results that I had come home in 1 hour 1 minute and 1 second so not a bad guess hey?!  Thanks to all my supporters on the day - Mum bought me a Thomas Theyer technical t-shirt which I sported today on my run, and I have raised £90.00 online through justgiving, so a really good outcome all round!  I'm already looking forward to next year and fingers crossed for more decent weather!

The girls with Lyme Hall in the background

In other news this week,  I have had two great bike rides - one on Ladybird to Tideswell with Caz - not only did I manage 30 miles without falling off, I even conquered my fear of cattle grids and crossed 4.  In the wet.  This is big. 

Lovely Ladies!

I also went on one of our ladies MTB rides on Thursday with Helen, Caz and Estelle on a Lyme Park loop which is a bit of a Heinz route - a bit of road, a bit of canal, a bit of techie and a lot of gates! It was great!  I wimped out of a technical bit which has annoyed me so I'm going to conquer that soon.  One thing at a time... I might just let my face fade first...

OMM ready!

In the next couple of weeks I will be writing my first OMM Ambassador Blog which will involve a report of the Herod Farm 3 mile fell race and the OMM Bike event which Caz and I have entered on the 23rd and 24th April through my OMM role.  

In the meantime happy running to all!

TLF x

OMG or should that be OMM?!

Walking back from the Dee party rocking my Proviz jacket!

These last couple of weeks have certainly been eventful!  Sailing-wise we had a bit of a non-event at the Dee Dart 18 Open meeting, with a drifter (no wind) on Good Friday so no races sailed, and then far too much wind on the Saturday and Sunday, resulting in only one race being completed by 10 boats out of the fleet of 30 entered.  

Unfortunately, (or fortunately if you were me) we were not one of the brave ten as it was just too windy with gusts touching 29 knots - there were 5 capsizes and one chap even snapped his mast! The evening parties were, as always, fabulous with live bands and great friends. Fingers crossed for better weather next year!

Mrs H telling the hikers we are not mad - honest!

Collecting evidence of the madness!

After the sailing weekend we headed up to Coniston in the Lake District for our annual Easter holiday with our caravan.  We had a really active week with our great friends the Harrison's - with running or biking most days (both some days!).

I think I'm on my phone here looking for directions!

Beautiful views make all the climbing worthwhile!

Notable rides were a MTB ride up Walna Scar road and back down into Torver with Mrs H.  A ride which became apparent very quickly wasn't going to be the "quick hour ride" we had in mind!  It was awesome though with skiing down peat bogs and hike-a-biking it up rocky crags!  We were a good way up the Old Man at one point!  We felt very proud of our efforts afterwards, after negotiating sheer drops into disused quarries and Mrs H braving sheer slate drop offs (I wimped out!).

Into the unknown...

Loving it!

We also did a ride which I could have done on Ladybird (my roadbike) and wished I had brought her with me! A circumnavigation of the lake with Mr A - it was really good even in pouring rain and gusting winds!  Mr H made us look very slow completing the circuit in 49 minutes on his crossbike, we thought we had been quick doing the 23k in 1 hour 17 minutes!

I said in an earlier blog post that I was planning on running up the Old Man of Coniston again, which I duly did... I have to say I learned a few lessons though - don't go just before dark, don't rely on mobile phone battery and don't forget your fell shoes!  I ran with Skye the collie (my holiday running companion) and wore a Canicross belt, which enabled me to have both arms to run and scramble up rocky crags with.  

Selfie of the ascent up Goat's Water

I followed a similar route to last year, running up the same way as we biked up Walna Scar Road then turning right onto the path leading to Goat's Water.  I love this part of the route, gaining height and looking back at the lake getting smaller and smaller.  

Looking back at Coniston Water 

Looking back at Goat's Water

As we negotiated Goat's Water - a really amazing place, I was thinking how tough and unforgiving the mountains can be, even relatively close to the civilization of Coniston, it is still a very remote and lonely place to be if you were unprepared and/or lost.  I felt fine even though my thighs were burning a bit after all the steps to the summit of Goat's Water and confident I would find the quicker way to the trig at the top of the Old Man.  

Trail panorama

I cross checked my map and continued on the path I took the year before - determined to find the right hand turn off to the top.  Alas I couldn't find it again and ended up cutting the corner and heading back in the direction we had just come, but this time negotiating quite deep snow to boot!  I found this hard and slippery going in my trail shoes (I had left my Roclites in the boot of the truck which was at Grizedale with Mr A!) and the light was going as the sun was disappearing before my eyes.  I have to say I was getting cold and a bit worried that I still had the down bit to tackle yet and thoughts of mountain rescue were creeping into my mind!  

The Trig with the sun going down

Looking down on Low Water from the top

It was 18:55 when I reached the cairn.  Needless to say I didn't hang about at the top for long!  I really struggled down the first half of the decent, climbing down the sharp rocks with Skye eager to get home too and no grip in my shoes was bloody hard.  I didn't enjoy it.  When I saw the carpark at the lower section of Big Hill I was relieved and went to ring Mrs H to let her know I was OK - my phone battery died so I knew I had to push hard to get home.  We legged it to the carpark, passing a family who had cut it fine too, and then headed down the exceptionally steep category 2 road into Coniston.  I was really pleased with my pace back to the site, I really pushed it and the Canicross belt helped as Skye was eager too!

I was pleased to have tackled the route again, but like I said, lessons learned this time.  

My biggest news is that back in February I entered a competition using my blog post "Why not Tri a Duathlon".  The OMM (Original Mountain Marathon) is a technical clothing company who run events aimed at runners and bikers from elite to amateurs where wild camping and navigational skills feature.  The competition was to find ambassadors of the brand for the 2016 season who would post monthly blogs featuring training, race reports and product reviews.  Basically, the sort of thing I am already doing.  

I put a lot of thought and time into my entry but didn't hold my breath that I would get anywhere.  It was a long wait to the 31st March when the winners would be announced.   On the day before the announcement date I was contacted by OMM to say they had been overwhelmed with 1000 plus entries,  as I read the email my heart sank, until I came to the part when it said I had made the top 10 and they loved my blog!  I read on with heightened anticipation, thinking what the... anyway, in a nutshell I have been chosen as one of 4 other amateur ambassadors (I think it should be OMMbassadors!) and will receive kit, products to test and entry into any OMM event free of charge!  

In return, I will produce monthly blog posts to let the OMM community see what I am doing and I guess to represent the average runners out there.  The aim is to inspire others to get out into the outdoors and start enjoying our amazing landscapes.  You can read the article announcing the new ambassadors here. To say I am thrilled is an understatement so watch this space for OMM blogs (I will still use my Lady Fellrunner blog in the same way - just with monthly OMM specific blogs too).  

I have entered the OMM Bike Peak District event on the 23rd-24th April which I will do with Caz.  We are very excited!

I have been sent some new overshoes courtesy of the Bike Factory (apparently my baggy Aldi ones do not cut it ;-) ) from the Manchester based DexShell rep to review. So I will get to test these at the OMM event too.  

It really is all go at the moment as Womens Running UK Magazine have contacted me to do an article on PBs - I contacted them with my story when I first wrote my blog, and they now want to feature my latest PB at Woodbank parkrun on their "My PB Story" section.  So look out for me in the magazine next month!! 

Hilariously today, Ava, my niece (after I was telling her about my article and OMM stuff etc. said "Aunty - you're trending!" 

Events coming up this week - the Thomas Theyer fell race - an 11k fell run around Combs, Derbyshire on Sunday 10th April.  You can sponsor me at https://www.justgiving.com/theladyfellrunner - its for a fabulous cause and the race should be a great boost to the charity.  I'm really looking forward to it!

Well done if you've read all that!

Happy Running!!! :-)