Herod Farm fell race 3m

With the week off work post mrs theoptimisticrunner's London Marathon jaunt, i thought i'd best put my free time to good use and have a go at this fell race. A category 'AS' race with 1100 ft of ascent, this was set to be even tougher still than January's Lamb's Longer Leg which fairly chewed me up and spat me back out again.

After a low key registration at the Reliance Garage off Turnilee Road in Glossop, we made our way up to the (uphill) start up a farm track just off the main road. A quick chat to one of this race's veterans revealed that the race took in the summit twice, information that at least meant I knew some of what was in store.

the first hill

after the first stretch of farm track the race took us up the side of Whiteley Nab which involved some hands-on-knees climbing, but we were soon bombing back down the hillside.

the fun I was taking in the descent was tempered by the fact I knew that every stride was going to have to be compensated for in the climb back up to the top!

the last climb back up the nab didn't seem too bad, however the last stretch saw us with the heather in front of our faces, and in danger of falling backwards if we leaned too far back! but the summit was soon made and we plouged our way back down again:

whilst I still finished near the back of the field, I put in a much better performance compared to Lamb's Longer Leg, and was pleased with my time and how I coped with the race.

next up is the Rainow 5 in May.