Wednesday 28 March 2012

Rite of passage

Oops! I posted That by mistake before I had written anything.... Try again.

At Last, after several years of plodding up and down hills I feel like I can finally call myself a fell runner.

Since 2008 I have had the privilege of running on Peak District moors, Lakeland fells and Welsh mountains and have headed out in snow, rain and sunshine, completed mountain marathons and B/short to A/long races(well I shuffled around at the Back of the pack) but somehow  it still never felt right calling myself a fell runner. 

That is until now.

Taking my mudclaws off after this years Edale Skyline and looking at my feet, there it was, my first Black toenail. At last I have earned the right to call myself a fell runner.





             
Funny feet





Matt on the other end of the VFFs

See that hill, go and run up it



What goes up, must.....

.......Come Down




Big up to #675
Thanks for showing me the racing line round the woolpacks
and for giving me a tow.



Photo by ShaunP 

Many thanks to Dark Peak Fell Runners for their usual slick organisation. Nice one guys

Saturday 24 March 2012

Here kitty

The invisible fell runner

Fell running Kit-list 

People, myself included seem to like kitlists and gear reviews so as a follow up to the Mountain Marathon kitlist. here is what I am putting in my bumbag for the Edale Skyline;

Kit carried

Bumbag
Omm 3.5l waist pouch

Full waterproofs required so it's
Rab Demand smock
Omm Kamleika troos

Hat/headcover
Buff

Gloves 
Outdoor designs powergrip

Food and drink

3x  SIS gels

Emergency food
Flapjack

Bottle of water

Pumfrys

Nav
Silva compass and Skyline map

Whistle

Camera.


Clothes worn

Socks 
thorlow coolmax trail

Shirt
Helly Hansen Charger

Shorts 
Addidas Supernova

I may take a  Gore running peaked hat.

Shoes
Inov8 Mudclaw 333


Update

Due to good weather, the Race organiser amended the compulsory kit to, lighter and less bulky wind proof body cover. 


Windproofs

Jacket, Salomon Fast wing Hoody

Troos, Montane featherlite pants

 Also I bought a new hat from the nice people on the Accelerate stand. My freebie, Gore hat is black and I thought a paler colour might be better.

Hat

Inov8 hotpeak

Photo by ShaunP






The Art Editor checking for biscuits




Tuesday 13 March 2012

PB vs Billy B



Also available in blue
Walsh PB Elite Trainer vs Black bog dog

A gear test in the same style as Mudclaw vs muddy paw. The same in that it is completely unscientific, random and probably of very little use to anyone wanting to know about fell running shoes.

I have never run in Walshes. For some reason or other I have never got round to owning a pair of these iconic, fell running classics so I was looking forward to trying a  pair of Bolton's finest.

 First thoughts were that they look old fashioned,.If that sounds too harsh, consider them a pair of retro style trainers(still 'on trend' I believe).
Putting them on was a revelation. Slippers with studs is pretty much it. No whistles and bows, just a simple upper with a very grippy sole. Again bang up to date with  minimalist/barefoot thinking. Nice one Norman!


some rain


A look out the window and it is perfect weather for trying out my new fell shoes. Billy and I head out for a splash round our usual from the door run. 8K and 100metres of ascent, mostly grass, woodland and mud.

The result, in spite of Billy slipping over two times to my once (not from lack of grip I put my foot down a hole). The mut easily takes the win, he can still run quicker than me and is much faster drying than a pair of Walshes

What a stud




Thursday 1 March 2012

What's brown and sticky

New Choooos
New Chew short score

Quote of the day from Ray M "We wont be wearing shorts and topping up our suntans then".

Half an hour earlier we had been driving northbound enjoying the blue skies and sunshine. We turned off the M1 and before we had even hit the Peak National Park boundary, the blue skies changed into dense low cloud.
Which for some reason we both found  hilarious.

Our hosts and race organisers for the New Chew were the Saddleworth Runners Club who did us proud. It was well organised, welcoming and friendly with a great venue and courses.

We chose the short score class, where we were given three and a half hours to go and visit as many of the controls that had been marked up on a specially printed, pre marked OS map.  A format that Ray and I have done a quite a few times before and both enjoy. 

There were a few differences to other score events we have done; It was a new area to us,  we were using Orienteering style punches and cards( last time we used them we DNFed ), but the biggest difference was the controls. We are used to Mountain Marathon sized orange and white Kites. This time we had to go out into the clag looking for a load of...... 'sticks'. 
 The checkpoints were 2x2  stakes, marked with the control letter, a number and with an orienteering pin-punch atached. As it turned out looking for sticks in the low clouds just added to the fun. 

The bad viz forced us to slow right down and concentrate on our nav, which was good as we often end up running when we should be map reading, ending up over shooting controls and having to relocate. This time we took more care and managed to find all the controls we planned on visiting, cool!

With the clag being down we took a conservative route and didn't manage to do much running but had a great three and a half hours, playing in the northern Peak District. 

Dropping down off the hills we returned to the start venue, where the Saddleworth Runners had put on a fine spread for us.  The icing on the cake, team Ibuprofen had somehow managed to come home in 4th place. Woo hoo!

Highlights and randoms

  • Catching up with Simon the Fellmonkey and his team mate Glen. They finished 11th in the main event. Well done for digging deep mate.
  • Cheese & potato bake with pickled red cabbage.
  • finding the 'Lone Tree'.
  • Meeting Ian of Just Us and a Few Friends . I think Ian may have me down as a stalker.
  • Quality cakes and a nice cuppa tea.
  • Not getting lost.
A big thank you to The Saddleworth Runners Club for putting on a cracking event. See you next year.





Enjoying the view


Is it that way

The usually grippy gritstone had been transformed to slipstone  by green slime  





Northern rock