I was hoping for no mist at this Hardmoors race. This was the final race in the Hardmoors 26.2 (+ a few) series.
The first was Saltburn back in February, then White Horse in April, Osmotherly in May, Rosedale in June, Wainstones in August and Goathland in November.
I normally run mainly alone, because I don't have a set pace, I run how I feel on the day, but I run sections with others along the route, this time I had told Nicole she could run with me. I was very apprehensive because she is a much faster runner than I am and I was trying out my carbon poles that I have bought for the HM110 in May 17. I hoped I wouldn't slow her down too much
I had read on Facebook about a tree with decorations on it near Captain Cook's monument, so I popped this little angel in my pack.
I arrived in Guisborough in darkness and quietly made my way to the Sea Cadet Hall for registration. Although it was pitch black at 7 am, the hall was hive of activity. There were other Ripon Runners there, so I went over to wait for the start with Nicole, Anneke, Claire and Mike. I had not realised that Anneke would be running. I thought Nicole would be running with her as they are a more similar pace that Nicole and I. Nicole assured me that she was running with me.
I chatted with some of the other runners whom I have met along this HM26.2 journey in particular Gill and Alison whom I met and ran a sizable chunk of Saltburn with and have seen at all the other races in the series, and the HM55 (well Gill was not at Wainstones as she was running something massive on the continent)
All too soon Jon called us to order for the briefing. He told us that one runner, Dee would reach her 1000th HM mile on today's run. 100 miles of Hardmoors races, that is an amazing achievement. She would get her own personal number for future races.
Alison was looking very nervous. :-)
As the sky lightened we made our way out of the hall and onto the road, where the race was quickly and quietly started and a herd of runners and at least one dog set off up the road that led out of Guisborough and towards the woods. It was quite congested and definitely an incline. I had set off fast because I knew that we had a style to cross before the first big climbs of the day. Nicole chatted to friends as she saw them and was clearly more comfortable than I was.
The style spread us out as we ran through the fields and into the woods. The first real climb was steep and muddy. I got my poles out and felt more comfortable and stable as the climb got steeper, but we were being passed a lot. Eventually we emerged from the woods at High Cliff Nab. the poles definitely helped me with stability but slowed me down.
We set of towards Roseberry Topping as the race leaders were already coming back towards us afer their two ascents and descents of the hill, we were detoured over Little Roseberry first, on the way down I turned my ankle. I really could have done without that. I wriggled it and tested it. It took my weight with the pole so I steadily set off again. The ascent of Roseberry was not too bad really, the poles seemed to make it easier but because I was still learning to use them progress was not that fast. At least they gave my ankle support. As I got to the top I saw Anneke on her way back down. she looked strong. We skirted the summit and descended carefully down a narrow, rocky steep path as lots of other runneres were climbing back up.
As we neared the bottom and the checkpoint, there was Jono marshalling. He tried out his new phone for taking pictures. Looks good to me. (next four pics are by Jono)
Nicole has mountain goat genes I think, she seemed quite confident on the mud covered uneven rocky track.
I got to the checkpoint and Nicole was waiting. I checked in and had a jelly baby before turning and heading back up to the summit of Roseberry Topping.
As I passed Jono I saw the back runner marshals, now I knew I was not going very fast but it was still a shock to see how close to the back I was. At the gate Nicole was waiting with a chocolate, I kept it for Ron, later-Ron. As we set off up the next section we discussed how many runners we could pass after Roseberry was done, 20, we agreed, then I said more like 15 but Nicole said probably 25. We carried on upwards, Nicole getting ahead again as the leaders of the half flew down the hill. Eventually I made it to the top for the second time that day where Nicole was admiring the view. She took the next few pics.
We descended a different route and headed away from Roseberry. We had only covered 10km and it had taken nearly 2 hours. Time to get a move on.
The run across to Captain Cooks Monument was steady away. It felt good to get going as we passed our first runner. I was using my poles on the path up to the monument and almost didn't see the decorated trees.
I stopped to hang my little angel on a prickly branch.
And off we ran again. At the checkpoint I got a drink and a few peanuts and set off, Nicole chatted to some other runners, but she would soon be back ahead of me. I enjoyed the tarmac descent, not needing to watch my footing. There were runners ahead and I was catching up. Nicole soon joined me and we ran through Kildale heading for the next big climb.
The climb out of Kildale was steep but being tarmac seemed not too bad. We followed the other runners and eventually saw more in the distance. We were gaining but very slowly. At the top I put my poles away and we cracked on. we passed a couple of runners. The terrain was not too bad, a slight incline but it was on a rough lane, so I ran a bit walked a bit until it leveled out. At this point the wind started to howl around us and even running there was a chill in the air. We were now covering a fair bit of ground. It was lovely looking over towards the Three Sisters.
Suddenly I stubbed my toe on a rock, I couldn't keep my balance and fell flat out on the trail. Nicole helped me back upright, I was fairly muddy and my right knee and arm were sore. I didn't want to investigate further but nothing was broken and the pain superseded my left ankle, bonus. After checking that my new running tights didn't have any holes we set off again. Good job I didn't have my expensive raincoat on we agreed. I was glad nothing was seriously hurt as it was very exposed and cold, miles from civilisation. I wouldn't want to be stuck out there for any length of time. So with only 15 miles left to go, I got back to running and the route soon changed direction. It was noticeably warmer as we were sheltered from the wind.
The runners we had seen ahead were now a long way off but we kept on running, focusing on them helped keep my sore knee and arm out of my thoughts and it was a nice runnable section. Nicole then stubbed her toe, she didn't fall but had hurt her toe. Still we would not be stopped.
We eventually caught up and passed a couple of runners which meant we were still running quite well even if it didn't feel like it.
Soon we came across the runners who had been ahead of us at Kildale, we were, very slowly catching up. When we caught up I realised it was Dee and her running partner Paul. we congratulated Dee and ran with them to the next checkpoint.
At this point I was quite warm and pulled my sleeves up, there was blood, not alot, but there was a cut on my elbow. It had stopped bleeding so no point worrying about it, we were at 20 miles, not too far to go now, just the Ripon 10 I thought. I rushed through the checkpoint and Nicole followed on after thanking Mark at the checkpoint for sending her a GPX file for her watch. (We hadn't needed it yet, but you never know)
That was not the end of the hills there were a couple of short sharp tarmac ones still to come.
We were again catching up with runners. The poles had slowed me down at the start but had save me from going off too quickly and it was now starting to pay off, we had already overtaken 25 runners.
We had some long trails over the moors and Nicole was still running like she was fresh. I was going not too bad but steady not quick. You could see for miles over the moors, ant you could also see that the light was starting to fade. We both wanted to be back in daylight.
As the lane turned into narrow heather trails our clean(ish) trainers got wet and muddy as we weaved our way towards the woods, Guisborough Woods, we were nearly back.
The trails through the woods were muddy, slippy and steep, we descended towards Guisborough rapidly. We had run and hiked over 29 miles and the end really was in sight, and it was downhill all the way. We just ran for it, It felt like we were sprinting down the road, but no doubt, to a bystander, we were staggering and hobbling, it didn't matter. we turned into the Sea Cadet Hall and checked in.
Yey! we did it. It was tough, there was blood and sweat out there but no tears.
Anneke was there to greet us. She had had an amazing run finishing 8th lady. She told us that Claire had got 3rd lady 25th overall, Mike had finished 34 th Anneke had been 50th overall and had been finished over an hour before us.
Nicole and I were very happy with finishing in daylight and passing 30 runners. We finished 112 and 113 out of 165 finish in 7 hours 15 minutes 39 seconds.
After getting cleaned up, and cleaning my wounds, mainly a bruised knee, a swollen and bruised ankle, a bruised arm and cut elbow, I had a couple of coffees and a homemade chocolate brownie made by Amanda. I was fit to drive home.
I was lucky enough to see Dee get her presentation for her 1000 miles.
The reward for the Roseberry Marathon was this tee shirt and medal in Rose (Pink).
And so the set is complete.
No comments:
Post a Comment