A Brief Upate!

Its been a while since I last wrote, due to work, family, training etc.  Its been a particularly busy couple of months since the 3000's, although training has continued as always!

Sleeping in the wagon, the view the night before the 1000s Fell Race.  Incredible that the course runs up there!

A few weeks back, I ran the Welsh 1000's fell race, as a pair with Tom, which very nearly went incredibly well.  The aim was to get within the top three, although due to Tom suffering really badly from thigh cramps for around 10 miles (10 miles!), we had to move slightly slower finishing in 6th overall (which is still pretty good going, and a proud effort of Tom's behalf!).

The first climb out of Aber up to Gwenllian

The race takes in all of the Welsh peaks that sit over 1000 metres, over an incredible 21 miles, with around 9500ft of altitude climb along the way.  The route is a killer, and renowned as one of the hardest UK fell races - I'd like to think they don't come much more difficult!  I had a fantastic run to be honest, as I'd taken a 5 day rest from my 100 training schedule  - man, this gave me wings!  I'd been running tired for around 16 weeks, so to take 5 was just amazing.  Nutrition did need further dialing, but for the most part it was great to see the training pay off.

Sky Running.  The last hurdle up to Crib y Ddysgl - stunning.

The race finishes on the top of Mt Snowdon, leading to a further 5 mile jog down to the village of Llanberis, giving a great mountain based marathon for your efforts (and a nice medal!).  A great day out, with some nice people along the way.

After a week of shorter runs here and there, it was nice to get back into the mountains for a couple of back to backs, beginning with a great 21 mile section of the Snowdon Ultra, around Llyn Cowlyd, from Trefriw, and up and around the Carneddau. It was absolutely boiling temp wise, so good training although sitting in rivers along the way was called for - the IPA once home was a just reward for sure!  

Hot and Sweaty on the Cowlyd 21 miler. Incredible all of the way this one!

The following day, a earlier start was called for, with a 12 mile killer.  Tom devised a cracker of a route from Beddgelert, up the Watkin to Snowdon peak, Crib y Ddysgl, back up Snowdon, down and around to the top of Lliwedd, before bailing back to the car via a particularly un-runnable descent back down to the right of Craig Ddu (seriously, this is a crazy one!).  

The run up to Snowdon via the Watkin Path.  Lliwedd just behind me, with the descent being the slope down from the peak.

We actually decided along the way down to maybe direct a new event; Cirque of the Un-Runnables.  We seem to do a lot of them (never planned!).

Ilkey Moor in the heat. Fern hell!

As always, work leads the way and fortunately for me, came in the shape of a few days in Scotland.  I drove up via Yorkshire,and despite not having a huge amount of time, it was amazing none the less.  Vowing to get out each day, whatever the weather (!) reaped huge benefits, as the trails along the way where just incredible.  The first was along Ilkley Moor.  Despite the heat, it was great to get a blast in between driving and meetings.  Always a treat.  I'd only ever bouldered here in the past, so it was a good trip down memory lane running passed boulder problems I'd long forgotten about.  Leading through to an early morning jog up in Edinburgh, before heading off up to Inverurie.

The last section of Mither Tap, Rowantree.

The trails above Inverurie are incredibly beautiful.  I chose to run up Mither Tap, Rowantree.  It's a pretty short one at 10km, although just amazing.  With wind and mist, despite the warm temperature it was just perfect.  The paths are so well maintained, the speed that you can get up to on the descent is brilliant (still lots of jumping and twisting along the way!).

The last port of call was up to Moray, namely Elgin.  This sits just a few miles from the coast nr. Lossiemouth, so a quick jog in the wind seemed a great idea, before the 500 mile journey home.  I di think it seemed slightly windy, and wondered what all of the camera buffs where doing out and about.  With the choppy see making waves, sea spray cooling my skin as I ran, I headed off.  The miles back around where pretty tough, due to the wind in my face and on tuning into the local weather once sheltered in the car, I discovered Storm Hector was the culprit.  Next time around, I'll check out the weather report, or maybe watch the news!

Storm Hector, Lossiemouth Coastal Trail.  Must watch the news in the future!