'The High Peak 40' - 42miles 5,400'

 

I blame the mrs for this one! After drunkenly agreeing to do this one Sunday night back in May, as we gathered on the start line in Buxton at 8am on Saturday morning I was wondering what the hell I’d let myself in for. My plan for this one was to run the flat and walk the uphills – a bit of research indicated this would give me a finish time within 10 hours, but provided my finish time was within Saturday I’d be more than happy!!

With a great deal of thanks to the course profile on the excellent Hayfield Races website, I was able to work out my fuelling tactics in advance of the race (mile 15 and the Rushup Edge checkpoint was the big one, for reference, not only was it almost midway through the race, it preceded a steep descent followed by a consderable ascent), but in truth I was fuelling from the early stages to ensure I stayed on top of things.

With the run/walk strategy I did this event at a pretty low intensity, covering the first 6 miles in around 63 minutes, but without feeling like I’d run any distance at all. This first part only featured a bit of climb, taking us outside Buxton and down the Goyt Valley towards the second CP at Taxal Layby where I had my first gel.

CP3 - Digleach Farm

With this being my first ultra I was prepared to fail completely and put it down to experience, and it was hard to run 'within myself' on some of the lesser climbs, but my fear of dying in the middle of nowhere after 20-odd miles made me keep a lid on things.

I'd covered marathon distance by around 5 hours into the race and was feeling pretty jazzy, seeing mrs theoptimisticrunner with her arms full of tuna sandwiches and coffee at Tideswell Dale provided a nice break from the driving rain at the time.

I just kept chipping away at the race to be honest - once i'd covered the first 10 miles comfortably then it just became a 30 mile race, and I knew I was good for a marathon, and once I got to 30 miles without my legs dropping off I could start thinking about a likely finish - it was looking like i'd be comfortably within the 9 hours I'd been keeping to myself as a realistic target.

This was a great way to spend a day, meeting Will Meredith and Nick Ham, two people whose blogs I read all the time – Nick Ham’s blog probably got me into Ultra running – and swapping places along the course with a great bunch of people who were telling me about their recent exploits on long distance events around Europe.  

Will Meredith wrote a much funnier account of the day here so I will point you in the direction of his account, there is also a much moredetailed route description hidden away on the aforementioned Hayfield Races website for those looking to complete this one in the future.

To cut a long story short I finished in 8h16mins (someone bizarrely tried to sprint finish me but I saw him off) and was absolutely buzzing at the finsh – mrs theoptimisticrunner was waiting for me there with the dog  and we tucked into a cheese and onion pie and a slice of cake in the school canteen whilst I recovered.

I didn’t have any aches and pains after this one (maybe because of the low intensity I ran at) and managed 14 miles the Thursday afterwards with no problems, but I reckon it knocked 30 seconds a mile or so off my pace for the following 4 weeks or more.

Thanks to mrs TOR for 1) entering me! 2) buying me a waterproof coat the week earlier in case it rainsed and 3) coming to meet me at mile 26 with a tuna sandwich and a cup of coffee.

Whilst I couldn’t run an ultra every weekend like Nick Ham, (a bit too time consuming), I think I’ll stick one a year in the calendar – next year the Bullock Smithy perhaps??

Reeth Show 2.5m 800’

This was my first BOFRA event, the premise of which was to determine who could get to the top of the hill overlooking the showground and back again the quickest.

Great Fremington Edge had been looming over us all morning as we’d made our way round the show, inspecting bales of hay, sheep and Stripey Jelly, and at the appointed time we were under starters orders and heading up to the skyline.

It was a fair pull up to the top, but thinking of the forthcoming pie and pint for my evening meal, I dug in and finally made it up after the false summit 50 metres from the top. 

From here on in it was downhill all the way, I struggled to find a decent route through the bracken at one point but got my head down to make it back to the fairground and enjoy my first ever top half finish in a fell race! After finishing 3^rd from last at Lamb’s Longer Leg at the start of the year, it was a good moment.

We were at Reeth Show as part of a few days in Hawes, so I took advantage of the time to get out early one morning and run partway up Dodd Fell, which was a good run but a bit bleak on the day. I’ll be back one day to complete the horseshoe and run round to Wether Fell along the roman road.

Chunal 4m 950’

Another midweek race, I’ve had to miss a few this year but there’s plenty of time to do the rest in the future. Organised by Des Gibbons who seems to organise quite a few events round here, this race takes in parts of the Herod Farm race (the hard parts), and then adds some more hard parts just in case you hadn’t been trying hard enough. 

On paper this was an utterly futile exercise – running up a hill, down it, round the bottom, up it again then back to the finish – but that’s fell running for you!

It was a cracking race and a great chance to get some climb in the legs.  Didn’t set the world on fire with my time but I’d run 9 miles home from work on the Monday so no surprises there. Next summer I might have a proper go at the midweek races, of which there is almost one a week within a 5 mile radius of New Mills during summer time – we really are blessed with this.

Shining Tor 6m 1250’

Midges! And flapjack. One is tastier than the other, but I ended up with both plastered all over my face by the end of tonight.

This event was another reminder of just how tough a short race can be, I suppose the 9 mile run home from work 2 nights previous didn’t do me any favours, but the main climb of the race, up from the valley bottom is a real tough one, up a rocky trail that twists and turns upwards, never allowing you to get your head down and strike up a decent rhythm.

From there it’s a bit of a plod across the flagstones of the open moorland and eventually coming out at Shining Tor, after which you start to come back on yourself and enter the second part of the race.

Apart from the aforementioned midges tonight was quite humid and drizzly, and the views from the top would have been pretty impressive under most other circumstances.

There was just time for a couple of suicidal descents down rocky trails and through the pine forest before we found ourselves by the foot of the dam and a nasty 20 metre uphill finish. There was a lady runner just ahead of me but being a gentleman I held back and let her finish ahead of me J
Then it was flapjack time! The spread at the end was pretty immense, as you can see below.

Probably about the most fun I could have had for £4 tonight in all of England!

Pennine Fell Runners 7th July

Tonight was my first night out running with Pennine. Mrs theoptimisticrunner had insisted that I have a run out with them, she is currently pregnant with optimistic junior v 2.0 but is a keen runner herself so can understand me going there.

It was great to find a new route up Lantern Pike, which is probably my favourite spot round these parts as the views from the top over Kinder, New Mills and further afield to Manchester and the west coast are spectacular. Plus it’s a bit more accessible than Kinder; you can be at the top within 30 mins from New Mills.

National Three Peaks 18th-19th June

I undertook the National Three Peaks Challenge with 12 colleagues and friends of friends, in aid of Francis House Children’s Hospice, a centre that provides care and activities for terminally ill children.

Undertaking the challenge was the idea of one of my colleagues, and we took it upon ourselves to organise a trip that involved two minibuses and support crew, enough food to feed a small army and overnight accommodation on the Friday evening, ready for an 8am assault on Ben Nevis the next day.

Ben Nevis

Investigation into this first peak mainly revealed a host of safety warnings of the danger of walking off the summit plateau and falling thousands of feet down the various gullies below. So we were very relieved to wake on the morning of the challenge to a clear, still day, with some cloud covering the top of the Ben. If anything the conditions were too good – the lack of a breeze in the valley bottom meant we’d soon all worked up a sweat as we made our way up. We made the summit 5 minutes inside our schedule, which was a great start and very encouraging.

The rest of the mountain passed without incident, however traffic and perhaps an optimistic estimation of the descent time by various online sources meant we finished Ben Nevis 25 minutes over schedule, in 5h25.

Sca Fell Pike

We arrived at Wasdale Head having elected to take the shorter, more direct approach to the summit of Sca Fell Pike and we could see that the cloud base was low – within an hour or so we were in the cloud and with night falling it was time to get the head torches out. 

It was vital to stay disciplined on the approach to the summit as it was by now very dark and foggy, and there were a number of other parties so this meant regular stops to re-group. We made the summit in good time having managed to claw back approximately 45 minutes that had been lost on the previous summit and the subsequent journey. The time to summit Scafell was 2h15 minutes – a great achievement.

We almost made a common mistake on the summit – heading off to the North for a few paces until we re-orientated ourselves to get on the path back down. We later met a team on Snowdon who had started at Borrowdale and instead of turning round at the top, had carried on down to Wasdale, 2 hours away from their support team and leaving their 24 hour challenge in tatters.

A review of our GPS track showed that we made a slight deviation on the way back down, but this was to be expected crossing the boulder field in thick fog at night. Our choice of Wasdale as a start point was vindicated as once we’d dropped below the cloud base we could see Wast Water shining in the moonlight below us.

Mount Snowdon

I didn’t have much choice in the matter of sleeping between Sca Fell Pike and Snowdon, we’d been awake all day and climbed two of the highest mountains in the UK.

We were all pretty strung out by this stage and so it was decided to form a breakaway group to ensure we made the Snowdon trig point inside 24 hours.

Suffice to say we go the job done and in the end we raised over £4,200 for our charity, blowing our original target of £3,000 well and truly out of the water.

wincle trout run 5.6m 1000'

this popular race takes place as part of the annual Wincle Village Fair just off the Buxton - Macclesfield road. sponsored by a local fishery, the USP of this race is that all finishers receive a trout for their efforts!

as a young man partial to a bit of fish, this event fairly sprang out from the pages of the FRA calendar like a leaping salmon. having not raced since late May's Leaden Boot, this seemed like a good event to get back into the swing of things again.

the start of the race took me a little by surprise! as i was still stood with the Optimistic clan in the corner of the field when it commenced - no whistle or gun, just the commotion associated with 300 people starting to move at speed over the car park field meant i had to fight through the throng of supporters, well wishers and family members to cross the start line. at least it meant i got off to a quick start!

we ran round the car park field and through the fairground, down a steep descent and across a meadow to a river crossing and our first ascent.

i've learnt quickly this year that a fell race is something you've got to want to run - you can't just turn up and bimble along hoping to finish. as such the first mile or so, and the first climb or two make you wish you'd not started, but the lungs and legs soon reach their optimum levels of performance, allowing you to get on with the business in hand, and if you are lucky enough not to be dodging tree roots, bogs, other runners AND are not faced with driving rain or sleet, enjoy some wonderful scenery.

after a conversation with George Scott earlier in the week - a local legend in his own right and still going strong in the MV60 category after over 30 years of fellrunning - i made a note to follow his advice and not only keep up with the runner in front of me but also the runners in front of him, and ensure they stayed within reach. the logic behing this is that whilst the next runner may be helping you to keep running along, if the next runners after him/her are pulling away then you are slipping back down the field and may even find yourself being overtaken.

whilst i'm not overly competitive, i do believe in applying yourself fully to the task in hand, so i try and squeeze every last drop out whilst i'm running (does that sound corny?!). i overtook a few runners in the woods a couple of miles into the race as a result of this.

the first couple of miles or so progressed gradually uphill through the woodland, before we emerged onto a trail that ran along the ridgeline and brought us our first sight of home, still a mile or so (and more than a couple of ups and downs) away.

i'd managed to keep up a decent pace up to this point, but I took this opportunity to take a quick breather and get my heart rate down to something like normal.

we then ran across some moorland before turning left to descent to a farm trail, over a stile and into Wincle itself before turning right by the fishery to start the last series of ascents back to the fairground. i knew we couldn't have been far away now so pushed uphill at a jog over the crest of the hill and began to hear the announcer from the fair cheering the runners home. i could see that we had a couple of climbs still to make up to the fenceline above, so i cracked on and was soon making the final turn into the fairground. mrs theoptimisticrunner's cheers spurred a final burst from my tired legs and i ran into the final strait as strongly as i could.

with about 50 yards to go i became aware of another runner on my shoulder, so i gave a final kick to see him off - which he matched - so i pushed again, giving everything i had (the uphill finish added to the difficulty!) and managed to ease in just ahead of him, narrowly avoiding running into the runner in front in my frantic efforts to see off the other man!

i must confess i had a quick lie down (collapse?!?!) after crossing the finish line, still clutching my Free Trout Voucher, but after a welcome drink of water i was right as rain again.

next stops: Edale Country Day (perhaps), Kettleshulme (perhaps) and the National Three Peaks Challenge on the 18th-19th June (definately).

If anyone is feeling generous, you can sponsor us here - we are walking for Francis House Children's Hospice, a facility that provides respite care for terminally ill children.

thanks

the optimistic runner