Before sitting down to write some thoughts on my race I had a little read over some blogs from this years race and I think no one summed up the experience more accurately than Mimi Anderson who declared “shit that was hard”. I don’t think anyone who took part in the race would disagree with that. If you can’t be bothered reading on that should be your take home message But for the rest of you, a bit of background: the Spine Race is a 268 mile non stop race along the entire length of the Pennine way. In January. For those who don’t want to spend the next 3 months recovering they also offer a shorter race: the Spine Challenger- a 108 mile race from Edale to Hawes. Exactly the same route as the Spine race, you just get the luxury of finishing at checkpoint 2 instead of pushing on to Kirk Yetholm. I like a long run but 268 miles is pushing it a bit so I went for the more sensible 108 mile Challenger option. Me and Elsie travelled down the day before, staying at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn, which sounds delightful but was a bit shit. Thin walls and neighbours having a lively bit of rumpy pumpy didn’t make for the most restful night. And they wouldn’t give us an early breakfast either, so a quick cup of tea and porridge in a pot it was before we legged it over to Edale for an 8am start. The weather forecast had promised a dry day, so inevitably as we gathered on the start line the heavens opened prompting a mad dash in the packs for waterproofs. I had to feel a bit sorry for the optimistic chap in compression shorts when the rain turned to first hail and then snow. The first few hours flew by and were pretty good fun despite the unexpected snow. Navigation was pretty easy at this stage mainly because we could just follow Marcus Scotney’s big Hoka footprints in the snow. In what felt like no time we were at Torside reservoir, where I was told Marcus was going well and was 10minutes ahead in the lead. I decided I wasn’t going to try and hang on at that pace and stopped to sort out my feet which were already very wet and were getting a few hot spots. The field started to spread out at this stage and I was mainly on my own. Things were going well until I had a lapse of concentration on Castleshaw Moor where I missed a turn and went too far west. I dithered about retracing my steps, but instead decided to take the fell runner approach and straight lined it back to where the Pennine way crossed the road a short way ahead. Probably the wrong decision as I watched Daniel Hendrikson overtake me taking the correct path while I struggled through tussocks and bog getting back on track. I imagined my […]
Monthly archives: February 2014
Looking at the competitors after each of the races at the inaugural East Kilbride Athletics Club Cross Country at Jackton today reminded me of the Asaro Mud Men I met in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea (Asaro Mud Men by kahunapulej, on Flickr). To say the going was ‘heavy’ is as much of an understatement as a Lady Gaga costume. On paper it looked like a walk in the park, and as I’m such a fan of a run in the park, I thought I’d give it a go. I took my daughter Joy along as she loves getting muddy and like me, had never tried a Cross Country event before. Arriving just after 1pm we were directed to the overflow car park. An encouraging sign that the event was well attended. We wandered up the farm track and eventually found the rather empty registration area in a sports hall hidden amongst the numerous farm buildings. Despite being met with a curt “Girls over that side”, the organisers thankfully took my word for it that I was male, and that in addition to Joy entering the girls race, I wanted to run in the veteran mens race and I was on the right side after all. With numbers pinned on it was time to make our way to the swamp field where the under eleven boys and girls had just finished. I’ve seen people return from two weeks in Tenerife looking paler than those mud darkened legs and faces. Joy was relishing the challenge ahead at the same time as I was wondering what a crazy idea this was and whether I could get my money back. The under 15 race was about 4km, or two big laps of the course and Joy duly took off, the only non club runner in her category. She really enjoyed the experience – once it was over – and despite finishing towards the back of race is keen to do it again. There were one or two faces I recognised and I was chatting to Stephen Prentice (Bellahouston Harriers) when fellow Bella Peter Goodwin appeared. Bella Hayleigh McCrorie was also on hand to provide support for the Bellas (and her other half running for Shettleston), which was very much appreciated. Having seen the state of the course, I resolved it was a day to try and simply get round safely and leave the PB for another day. At 4 laps and just over 5 miles I was certain I’d bitten off more than I could chew. My enthusiasm had triumphed over my inexperience to get me there, but then done a runner at the first sign of adversity. At least the weather was fine. Although pouring in the morning it had brightened up with warm winter sunshine taking the edge off the January chill. Ideal conditions for running. Ideal for running in a park that is, and I’d decided that whatever this was, it wasn’t a park. We lined up at […]